Move over Michael Meeks. Make way for Juan Mendez.

Confused?

Don’t worry, Mendez passing Meeks last Thursday as the NCAA’s all-time Canadian-born scoring leader probably shouldn’t have happened anyway.

Not that the Niagara senior doesn’t deserve it, with the 6-foot-8, 245-pound forward having added a 3-point shot to his game this season, but it would never have even been a possibility if not for the role luck played on two occasions.

The first time was roughly eight years ago when a friend of a Florida prep school basketball coach happened to see the young Mendez playing at a YMCA in his native Montreal. That eventually led to Mendez leaving for Florida Air Academy to play for coach Aubin Goporo at age 15. ‘I was fortunate enough (the friend) lived in Montreal,’ Mendez said. ‘I’m grateful for what came upon that guy that day to come and watch my team. That was the only option I had,’ he said of his chances to play high school basketball in America.

The second time was when Niagara head coach Joe Mihalich and his staff simply stumbled upon him during recruiting.

‘We found out by some sort of contact about a guard in Florida,’ Mihalich said of Alvin Cruz, now manning the point at Niagara. ‘So we made a phone call, and (Goporo) said ‘what else do you need?’ We said we needed a power forward, too, and he said ‘I might have that for you as well.”

Might?

Mendez is fourth in the nation in scoring, averaging nearly a double-double with 24.1 points and 9.8 rebounds per game.

The Purple Eagles (9-6 overall, 4-3 Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference) will reach the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 1970 if they win the MAAC tournament.

But Mendez’s career at the Academy was almost over before it began.

‘I remember the year he left there was a big hurricane in (nearby) Miami,’ said Mendez’s mother Maritza Watkins, who moved to Montreal from the Dominican Republic at age 12 before giving birth to 12 children. ‘I called the Academy and I said ‘I want my son back.’ But they said, ‘No, no, no, everything is going to be fine.”

‘Fine’ would be one adjective to describe Mendez’s senior year at the Academy. The team went 33-0 en route to the state championship.

‘I think he could have gone bigger,’ Goporo said of Mendez’s college search. ‘But he chose to go somewhere smaller and more comfortable.’

Not only was Niagara closer to home, but it gave him the chance to play with his best friend and roommate for six years – Cruz.

‘They’re like brothers,’ Mihalich said. ‘They’re going to be the best man at each other’s weddings, there’s no doubt in my mind. They love each other, they really do.

‘Neither of them would be as successful as they are without each other.’

Indeed, Cruz is already Niagara’s all-time assists leader, meaning the native of Puerto Rico had a direct hand in producing a new Canadian scoring leader.

‘I tell (Cruz) everyday I consider him to be the MVP of this team,’ Mendez said. ‘He controls the team, distributes the ball and does all the little things to help us win.’

Mendez became serious about basketball as a young teenager soon after he constructed his own court behind his family’s apartment.

The court, however, had a minor defect: The hoop was 13 feet high.

‘There was this railing in the way,’ Mendez said. ‘I didn’t have anywhere else to put it. And I just started shooting.

‘Yeah, it was kind of high because I remember I was kind of short then.’

You don’t say.

Even Yao Ming, who Mendez met last summer while playing for the Canadian National Team, would find that a little excessive.

Mendez actually had the option of playing for the Dominican team because his parents both hailed from the country.

But for now, Mendez, who is on the bubble for being selected in June’s NBA Draft, according to various reports, is trying to stay focused on his college team amid the recent attention.

‘It’s something I am very proud of because people put me in the same phrase as Steve Nash, Todd MacCulloch and Rick Fox,’ Mendez said of the record, mentioning three Canadians with NBA experience. ‘I’m taking this by stride because I am still a team player and I am here at Niagara trying to go to the NCAA Tournament.

‘When I look back, I will be grateful I represented my country the way I wanted to.’

NO. 21 PITTSBURGH (+7) AT NO. 16 CONNECTICUTSATURDAY, 9:00 P.M., ESPNThis is a game for the trenches. The Panthers, whose last five games have each been decided by five points or fewer, are led by two forwards – Chevron Troutman and Chris Taft – who shoot better than 55 percent from the field. They will battle down low with Huskies front-liners Charlie Villanueva and Josh Boone, with the latter averaging a double-double per game in points and rebounds. PICK: UCONN 71, PITT 59

NO. 15 TEXAS (-6) AT NO. 18 OKLAHOMASATURDAY, 3:45 P.M., CBSThe Sooners showed the country they were for real several weeks ago in an upset win over UConn. Like this game, that one was at home, where Oklahoma is 9-0 this season. But the Longhorns, who have five players averaging double digits in scoring, will get a much-needed win in a tough, early-conference schedule. PICK: TEXAS 77, OKLAHOMA 68

NO. 3 WAKE FOREST (-12) AT NO. 20 CINCINNATISATURDAY, 1:00 P.M., ABCIn last Saturday’s win over North Carolina, the Demon Deacons went an incredible 32-for-32 from the free-throw line. But Wake Forest will struggle to win this one due to a lack of focus for a non-conference game in late January.PICK: WAKE FOREST 79, CINCINNATI 75

NO. 19 MICHIGAN STATE (-5) AT MINNESOTASATURDAY, 4:30 P.M., NO TVSpartan coach Tom Izzo has urged reticent center Paul Davis to open up and talk with his teammates more. The probable NBA lottery pick said in a recent Chicago Tribune article that for most of the season he was so worried about every shot, every rebound and every foul that he wasn’t enjoying the game as much. PICK: MICHIGAN STATE 68, MINNESOTA 66

NO. 9 BOSTON COLLEGE (-11) AT ST. JOHN’SSATURDAY, 7:30 P.M., NO TVCould the undefeated Eagles actually challenge SU and others in the Big East for the conference crown? They’ve beaten Connecticut and West Virginia on the road in two of their last three games. Forward Craig Smith leads Boston College with 19.6 points and 8.7 rebounds per game. It’ll survive a possible letdown.PICK: BOSTON COLLEGE 64, ST. JOHN’S 57

Published on January 17, 2005 at 12:00 pm