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Centre View: Scanlon Smart At Stonehill
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| Colin Scanlon is averaging 4.4 points, 4.1 rebounds and 3.5 assists in 28 games this season. |
Centre View: Scanlon Smart At Stonehill
By Jason Mackey
On recruiting trips to scout high
school talent, college basketball coaches who attend various AAU
tournament around the country are used to seeing up-and-down play,
high-flying dunks and kids that can clear a Volkswagen with a
single leap.
Colin Scanlon wasn't one of those kids. Quite the
opposite, really. As Stonehill College men's basketball coach
David McLaughlin saw Scanlon at an AAU tournament
in Delaware prior to the Flint Hill graduate's senior year,
McLaughlin was attracted to Scanlon for the opposite reason.
The game slowed down, McLaughlin remembers of the moment, when the
ball was in Scanlon's hands, and the coach noticed his future
player's brain at work instead of his body.
"I really liked that," McLaughlin said. "He was looking for certain
decisions, not taking the first shot that showed and getting his
teammates involved. The more I watched him, the more I saw. And
obviously he had a bit more of a scoring role with his Flint Hill
team, but you could really see all those fundamentals carry
over."
"One of the best assets of my game is that I see the floor pretty
well," Scanlon added.
For the past four years at Stonehill, Scanlon, a Centreville
native, has looked equally as smart. A three-year starter, Scanlon
is averaging 4.5 points, 3.6 assists and 4.2 rebounds per game this
season while playing a team-high 30.7 minutes a night.
Scanlon has started at least once at every spot on the floor for
Stonehill, and, while listed at 6-foot-5, 205 pounds, he also
serves as the team's No. 2 point guard.
"I pride myself on being a team guy, and it's all about winning,"
Scanlon said. "I came in as a freshman and had played guard
throughout high school. [McLaughlin] kind of threw me at a forward
spot just because of the personnel we had at the time -- we were
kind of thin on forwards -- and it actually benefited my game a lot
because it gave me a perspective from another position."
Despite not having led the Skyhawks in scoring all season, Scanlon
has found other ways to make his presence felt, namely on the
defensive end of the court. As of Wednesday morning, Stonehill was
tops in the Northeast-10 Conference in scoring defense at 61.2
points per game.
And though individual defensive statistics are sometimes hard to
tabulate and compare, Scanlon has his coach's vote for the best
defensive player in the league, even if the Northeast-10 selected
Massachusetts Lowell's Max Kerman as its Defensive Player of the
Year.
"We have him guard the other team's best player night in and night
out, and he's done that at a very high level this year," McLaughlin
said. "He does a lot of things that don't show up on the stat sheet
necessarily."
Stonehill suffered an 80-66 loss to LeMoyne in the Northeast-10
quarterfinals Tuesday night and will await word until Sunday
evening on whether or not the Skyhawks (21-7) will receive an
at-large bid to the NCAA Division-II tournament.
Although he initially attended Westfield -- his brother, Peter
Scanlon, recently wrapped up his senior basketball season there --
Colin Scanlon elected to transfer to Flint Hill after his junior
season.
Flint Hill helped him grow as a player and, after he re-classified
and entered the school with two years remaining before he would
graduate, also helped him grow as a human being.
Scanlon spent two summers playing for NOVA United, the AAU team
that McLaughlin found his freeze-framing recruit on, and chose
Flint Hill for the opportunities it provided both academically and
athletically.
"It was kind of a big risk, but it definitely paid off," Scanlon
said of transferring to a private school.
Colin Scanlon admitted that Stonehill likely won't be on his
younger brother's short list come decision-making time, but if
Peter Scanlon's abilities resemble anything close to that of his
brother -- and they do -- another college coach will likely share
the same, enjoyable experience that McLaughlin has for the past
four years.
"He's a leader and a really bright basketball player," McLaughlin
said. "He has a high-level basketball IQ. He's a kid that you like
to be around every day because of how he approaches the game."















