Sports
No Lockout for Laurel Grad Alston
College hoops is almost a year-round event for several local products.
The NFL and NBA, two of the more popular sports leagues in North America, are in lockout mode the first full week of July.
But for college basketball players there is little down time.
While coaches have limits on their contact with student-athletes during the summer, those college hoopsters can have a ball in their hand every day of the year if they wish.
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Laurel High graduate Will Alston, who led the Spartans to the state Class 4A semifinals when he was a senior in 2008, is one example of a college basketball player who uses the summer to try and get better.
While many top Division 1 players take part in the Kenner League at Georgetown University, Alston told Patch he is playing in an outdoor league for college players in Annapolis.
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"There are players there from Bowie State University," said Alston, who played at Archbishop Spalding in Severn before transferring to Laurel High.
Alston, after starring for Laurel High and former head coach Keith Coutreyer, played two seasons of college hoops at Division I Jacksonville in Florida. His first college game came against Georgetown in downtown Washington and his first basket was against the Hoyas.
He then transferred prior to last season to Valdosta State in Georgia. Since that is a Division II school he was eligible to play right away and as a junior forward/center he averaged 11.1 points per game, the fourth-best mark on the team.
"We have a lot of people coming back," said Alston, who added that the team has high hopes for the coming season. "Hopefully we can win a national championship."
Alston, at 6-foot-7, played in 30 games with 24 starts last season and 6.4 rebounds per game for a team that was 21-9 overall.
After next season Alston hopes to play pro basketball and would welcome the chance to play overseas if he is given an opportunity.
"My coach feels I may have people interested in me," he said. "I am going to get the most of it my last year."
His former Laurel coach, Coutreyer, was an assistant last season for Division I Howard of the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference (MEAC). He was an assistant coach at Hampton before taking a job at Howard.
Howard is expected to have a strong freshman class this coming season, thanks to recruiting efforts of Coutreyer and staff.
Incoming players include Brandon Bailey of Largo High, Brandon Ford of Gwynn Park and Oliver Ellison of Gonzaga. Ford played at Gwynn Park for head coach Mike Glick, the former coach at St. Vincent Pallotti High.
Hampton--like Howard, a member of the MEAC--had Laurel ties last year.
The roster included former Laurel High players Chris Tolson and Milade Lola-Charles and Wesley Dunning, who played at Gonzaga and grew up in Laurel.
Tolson, a junior guard, played in 26 games off the bench and was fourth on the team at 4.3 points per contest.
Milade-Charles, a junior post player, was a reserve in 29 games and averaged just 0.7 points and 6.8 minutes per outing.
Dunning, a sophomore, played in 32 games with one start and averaged 2.1 minutes per game.
Bakari Taylor, who played at Eleanor Roosevelt and is from Bowie, was also on the Hampton team which lost to Duke in the NCAA tourney.
In addition to college hoops, local high schools have taken part in summer leagues.
Look for a story in Patch next week on summer leagues involving teams at Pallotti and Laurel.