SoCalHoops Tournament News

City Of Palms: Mater Dei Wins;
Gerald Wallace The Star--(Dec. 20, 1999)

Jamal Sampson had 21 points to lead all Mater Dei scorers at the Ft. Meyer's City of Palms Classic on Saturday, beating last year's Florida State runner-up, Pope John Paul High School. We weren't there, but we got the next best thing, which is the complete game stats. They're listed below.  In other first round action, Denver East, which is currently the No. 19 ranked team in USA Today's poll, lost big time to Northwest Christian, last year's Florida Division I State Champion, by a score of 80-49.  And Ribault, a team from Jacksonville, Florida, beat DeJuan Wagner's Camden High, 69-54, and as we suspected, Wagner didn't play because he's out with a broken thumb.   Ballard, USA Today's No. 7 ranked team, won on Saturday, defeating a Florida team, Cypress Lake, 102-45, and Ballard's Brandon Bender had 26 points in the game.

Mater Dei plays again at 5:30 p.m. EST on Monday, against Ribault, a team which has decent height and good speed, and they will give the Monarchs a game.  If you want to see their first round stats against Camden,   just visit the City of Palms tournament website, and click on bracket.  Each of the scores is hyperlinked to the stats.

Much of the rest of the news out of Ft. Meyer's though related to others participating in the tournament, including Gerald Wallace, whom many believe is the best player in the current senior class.  Wallace, who plays for Childersburg drew the attention of some of the local Ft. Meyer's media.   Childersburg, not ranked in the USA Today top 25, still feature the No. 1 player in the country.  They play tonight at 7:45 p.m. Here's a report from the Ft. Meyer's News-Press:

Much of the news out of Ft. Meyer's though related to others participating in the tournament, including Gerald Wallace, whom many believe is the best player in the current senior class.  Wallace, who plays for Childersburg drew the attention of some of the local Ft. Meyer's media.  Here's a report from the Ft. Meyer's News-Press:

Wallace hits new heights

Childersburg star rated No. 1 prep player in nation

By DAVID DORSEY

The News-Press 

FORT MYERS - Three years ago, Gerald Wallace had never been on an airplane before, and the farthest he had ventured from his hometown of Childersburg, Ala., was to Tuscaloosa. 

"I went to the mall there one time," Wallace said.  

Since then, Wallace certainly has come a long way. 

Wallace, a 6-foot-7, 210-pound forward, has been anointed as the No. 1 senior high school basketball player in the nation and a can't miss prospect for the Division I college ranks by several recruiting analysts.  Wallace, who is averaging about 30 points per game this season for Childersburg High School, will display his talents at 7:45 p.m. tonight at the Bishop Verot High School gymnasium.  The NationsBank City of Palms Classic, presented by The News-Press, continues today, beginning at noon as Cypress Lake will take on Camden (N.J.) in a consolation game.  About 2,400 are expected to watch Wallace in action in a first-round game against Williamsport (Pa.). 

"I've been coaching ball for 25 years," said Michael Stone, a Childersburg assistant who coached Wallace as an eighth and ninth grader. "I told everyone four or five years ago that he's the best player I've ever seen.   "He's amazing. He'll do something different to amaze you every game. He could go to the NBA right now and be a starter for any team. The better the competition is, the better he is. 

"You have to see him to believe it. Once you see him play, you'll believe everything I said."  After Wallace took his first airplane flight - he flew to Des Moines, Iowa, in the summer after his sophomore year for a summer AAU tournament - he began hearing similar praise from recruiting analysts and college coaches, who were scrambling to get his services. 

"I got about 20 to 30 different letters a day," Wallace said. "I have eight shoeboxes at home, under the bed. It's something that one day I can look back on.  "Half of them haven't even been opened. Actually, I'd say 75 percent of them haven't been opened. And the 25 percent that were opened, I didn't even open them." 

This past summer marked the first time he had participated in a big-time summer basketball camp. He went to the ABCD camp in the summer. In April, he won the Most Valuable Player award at an AAU tournament in Memphis, Tenn., after scoring 24 points against another one of the nation's top prospects, Darius Rice of Jackson, Miss.  

By May, the Childersburg post office should have hired another postal worker to handle Wallace's mail.  Before that, however, only three schools were interested: Auburn, the University of Alabama-Birmingham and the University of Alabama.  In November, Wallace signed with Alabama and at the urging of him mom, Alice Wallace, he put the NBA in the back of his mind. 

"The biggest thing is, you grow up so fast, and you can't go back," said Alice Wallace, who works a a bookkeeper for the Winn-Dixie grocery store in Childersburg. "He's 17-years-old. People say that he can go to the NBA and go to college when he's older, but he won't be able to enjoy it as an 18-year-old. You can't go those years back. You can't get that feeling back.  "And I think that's more important than all of the money. Your youthhood and your childhood and your happiness is the most important thing." 

Alice Wallace said she wants Gerald to go to Alabama for at least one year. After that, they will discuss his situation.  "She feels like I'm too young and immature to got straight to the pros," Wallace said. "My mom comes first. She has 100 percent impact in my decisions. And I've always wanted to experience college."

Growing up, Gerald Wallace idolized former Chicago Bulls and University of North Carolina guard Michael Jordan.  "His dream was to go to North Carolina," Alice Wallace said. "We went to a tournament up there this summer, ahd the ride was a little bit more than what we expected. 

"I told him, 'This is a long way for momma to be driving.' And that's the last time we talked about North Carolina.  "Growing up, you always have someone you want to pattern your life after, but after awhile, you realize that you have to get back to reality. 

"I never really thought he would go too far out of the state because he enjoys having his family and his friends come to watch him. "Any street that you go to here, you're going to run into family."  Since signing with Alabama, Wallace said his life has rerturned to normal in that he's no longer getting phone calls at all hours of the day. 

A normal life for Wallace means that he has continued to amaze his teammates.  "During one game, he took the ball behind his back, dunked it over someone and got fouled on the play," said teammate Keedrick Keith, a senior forward. 

"He can do some things I can't believe," said Gaylon Black, a senior guard who will play linebacker next season for the
University of Alabama-Birmingham football team. "One time he dunked on someone, and I just stood on the court, shaking my head."  Earlier this season, Wallace scored a career high 53 points. "I felt confident that game," Wallace said. "The scoring was coming easy for me. I had a fast-break - I was wide open, all by myself. Everyone was thinking a dunk. But I just laid it in. I did a finger roll." 

But more often than not, Wallace said, he'll throw down a vicious dunk.  "It depends on the score and the momentum of the game," Wallace said. "If it's a blowout, I might do something for the fans. If we're down, I've got to do something that will get my teammates fired up."  Wallace said he has tried to make his game more than just a dunk-fest. He helped win a game earlier this season by flipping a no-look pass for the game-winning basket. And during one game last season, he seven slam dunks, but he also made six 3-pointers.  "As the years have gone by, I've been able to expand my game out to the wing," Wallace said. "I just play hard, and everything falls into place." 

As for his status as the No. 1 player in the nation, Wallace said he'd rather be the No. 2 player on the No. 1 team.  "I'd rather be No. 2 so I could play against No. 1," said Wallace, whose favorite two players are Michael Jordan and Vince Carter. "I'd rather be the underdog.  "I've got one goal right now. And that's to win a state title."

Mater Dei Stats:

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