Mesa Legend - ARCHIVES - Vol. 40, Issue 7


Volume 40, Issue 7. Today is .

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Volume 40, Issue 7.
December 3, 2002

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T-birds anxious for ’03
By P.J. Javaheri
For the Mesa Legend

MCC Thunderbirds starting lineup
Photo by Danny Alcocer Jr./ Mesa Legend
Number 3 Jesse Groethe, Tarek Abdala (21), Hakeem Rollins (52), Rayshaun Ames (44), and Paul Mohr (10) are the starting five who Coach Alton Lister hopes will lead his Thunderbirds to the promised land.

They’re baaaack!

Its time for another action filled season for the MCC Men’s basketball team as they hit the hardwood.

After an exceptional season last year, the T-birds are now setting themselves even higher goals.

Just ask star guard Andre Bailey.

“We have real good outside shooters and a great inside game as well.”

With all but one player under 6 feet tall, you can expect a lot of bumping and grinding down low from your Thunderbirds this season.
“Our strengths are definitely rebounding and scoring late in the game” says Bailey.

The T-birds were ranked fifth coming into this season, which places them two spots ahead of last season’s ranking.

Head coach Alton Lister does not believe in preseason ranking and just wants to go out and play.

“Rankings have no credibility, because it was all based on last years results, but I know that we’re better than last year,” said Lister.

As for coach Lister’s expectations on this upcoming season, he wants the fans to know that a slow start is anticipated.

“I don’t worry about how we start the season, my goal is a strong finish.”

He believes that with 9 freshmen on the team, chemistry and Maturity is a must and so far he is extremely happy with what he sees in his players.

“I see many positives out of our freshmen and we got all the parts of a great team.”

This team features some of the best Players MCC has seen in some time.

Players like 6’8 sophomore Hakeem Rollins who has stepped up his game to another level.

Rollins is putting up double doubles in an alarming rate with an average of 25 points and 12 boards per game.

Coach Lister also mentions to be on the lookout for freshman Paul Mohr who is another great player that is quickly getting familiar with his new teammates.

The list of players still continues, names like Rayshaun Ames, Charles Dairman and Jeff Zook go on seemingly forever as they can all score and/or rebound.

“This gives us a great-half court game and a strong inside presence,” says Coach Lister.

As for how many games he expects to win he has this to say: “I’ll never mark down a specific number of games. We’re a very young team, but we should definitely finish in the top 4 which would give us the home-court advantage in the playoffs.”

With the anticipated success, coach hopes to establish a fan support that will be “our 6th man” in the stands.

Lister believes that the best for the T-birds is just over the horizon.
“As the season goes on, guys will mature,” says Lister.

From Experience, he knows that that maturity level can take the T-birds very far into the playoffs even though the team is made up of predominately freshmen.

The T-birds will play a total of 30 games, which will include 24 conference games, and 6 important non-conference games.

So if you want to see some rim rattling, backboard crashing basketball action, do your part as the “6th man” and make plans to come and see the MCC Thunderbirds have yet another exciting season.