Team Chemistry Could Be Secret Ingredient For Huge U. City Boys Hoops Season

Even though his team won the prestigious season-opening Borgia Thanksgiving Tournament in 2010, University City boys basketball coach Dave Gammon knew his team wasn’t really going to get any better than it was that first opening weekend.

The Lions were a talented club that ended up with a 17-10 record, but Gammon knew that team had peaked, and his job was to have them ready to play at that peak every night.

“We definitely had some talented guys,” Gammon said, following a recent practice with his 2011-12 team. “But we weren’t going to get any better throughout the year.”

This season though, Gammon is practically giddy over the team he has, because the coach believes the potential for this year’s team is unlimited.

“I’m not even worried about how we start,” Gammon said. “Because I know these guys are just going to get better and better.

“I don’t want to say we didn’t have great team chemistry last year, because we did. But this year is even better. None of these guys are selfish. They’re all real good friends, and they all just enjoy playing together.”

That was certainly the case over the weekend, when University City began the new season by taking third place in the Borgia Tournament, with two big wins over Beaumont and Washington, and a narrow, three-point loss to host school St. Francis Borgia.

This week, fans will get their chance to see the new-look Lions live and in person, when University City hosts its home opener against Hazelwood East at 5:30 p.m. Friday.

“I think we’re going to have a great team this year,” Gammon said.

Back to lead the Lions in battle this year the is 2010-11 co-Suburban East Player of the Year, Travon Williams, a dynamic 6-foot-3-inch scoring machine. He led the team in nearly every category last year, with an average of 20.4 points, 5.6 rebounds, 3.4 assists and 2.6 steals a game.

This year, Williams is considered one of the top college prospects in the St. Louis area. He could be in for a huge season with so many of his best friends on the team with him.

Williams already has been contacted by recruiters from Division I colleges such as Murray State University and Tennessee State University, and even recently had a scout from State Fair Community College in Sedalia, MO visit him at practice one day last week.

“He’s such a humble kid,” Gammon said. “He’s very team-oriented. He never demands that he just get to shoot the ball. He’s plays hard on defense like everybody else. He does whatever we ask him to, and his teammates feed off that.”

This season those teammates include fellow seniors Mo Washington (6-foot-1, guard); Demonte Smith (6-foot guard); Jeffrey McGhee (6-foot-2-inch forward); Marcus Ashford (5-foot-11-inch forward); and Avion Ashford (6-foot-6-inch center); and juniors Adrian Collins (6-foot-2-inch forward); George Brown (6-foot-1-inch guard);  Rashod Richards (5-foot-11-inch guard); and Darnell Tillman (6-foot-7-inch center).

Williams and Ashford both had big weekends at the Borgia Tournament and were named to the all-tournament team after University City’s two victories.

But Gammon said guards Brown, Washington and Smith would all have to be players that help with the scoring load this season.

Tillman is an especially intriguing player because of his size and great hands, but he won’t be eligible to join the Lions until after the first semester ends.

Gammon is also excited about several things going on with the University City hoops program this year.

The junior varsity and freshman teams are coming off fantastic seasons, and look like they’re going to be even better this year.

The always raucous University City Pep Band has agreed to play at all Lions varsity home games this season.

And on Jan. 20, when the Lions host Suburban South Conference rival Webster Groves, University City will honor longtime, Hall of Fame coach Ed Crenshaw and '70s star player Hasan Houston by naming the gym and playing court after them.

Crenshaw coached the Lions for 17 seasons and just last year had the basketball court at St. Dominic High School in O’Fallon named after him.

Now, University City plans to honor the coach in similar fashion by naming its gym after him.

The basketball playing surface will be named after Houston, who was a star player at the school. He graduated in 1976 before becoming a star player at Kansas and Bradley universities in the early 1980s.