03/23/2008
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Staff photo by Andy Molloyfrom the Kennebec Journal
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All of today's:
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from the Morning Sentinel
Staff Writer
The Gold Ball the Winthrop High School boys basketball team was presented for winning the Class C state championship made brief stops at the homes of various team members. At least until it reached Sam Leclerc's house.
"Everybody knew if I took it, it might not come back for awhile," Leclerc said.
Leclerc did bring the Gold Ball back to school last week, but considering how much he had to do with the Ramblers winning it in the first place, no one complained.
The 6-foot-1 senior point guard turned in a memorable performance in the state championship game with 28 points, seven assists and seven rebounds as the Ramblers upset Calais and ended its 63-game win streak.
For his efforts, Leclerc has been named Kennebec Journal Boys Basketball Co-Player of the Year with Maranacook's Ryan Martin, who helped his team to the Class B state title. Also considered was Cony's Andrew Pullen.
Leclerc has natural talent but his success is based primarily on practice and hard work. It's not unusual for him to put in a two-hour lifting and shooting session after the team's regular practice is done.
"I've never seen or heard of anybody that works as hard at becoming better at something," said Dennis Dacus, who recently resigned as Winthrop's coach. "The kid has worked his tail off to be where he's at."
The Ramblers faced a daunting task in defeating Calais, considering they were without defensive stopper Tim Gingras, who was suspended for the game. Leclerc's confidence, though, never wavered.
"Several times he would just say, 'We're going to win this game,' " Dacus said.
When opponents used special defenses, as Dirigo did against Leclerc in the regional championship game, he simply utilized his teammates. Passing, in fact, gives him more pleasure than scoring.
"I really like breaking people down off the dribble ... ," Leclerc said. "making the right pass, getting people easy layups, making people's job easier."
Leclerc has improved steadily since his freshman season, Dacus said, emerging as a scorer the past two seasons, as well as an excellent decision-maker. He surpassed 1,000 career points midway through the season, one in which he averaged just more than 20 points a game.
He led the Mountain Valley Conference in a number of statistical categories and was named conference Player of the Year. All the accolades are just steps along the way for Leclerc as he continues to work to improve.
"I need to work a lot harder at defense," Leclerc said. "I'd like to play at a lot faster tempo and be that scrappy point guard that's picking up in the backcourt."
Leclerc has yet to decide where he'll play next season. He's received interest from several Division I schools, including Maine, University of Maryland-Baltimore County, Air Force, Bryant and Columbia. He's expressed a desire to play at as high a level as possible and to that end may attend a prep school next year.
"Going to a prep school would be a great opportunity to put my name out there," he said.
Gary Hawkins -- 621-5638
ghawkins@centralmaine.com
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