SEAN KILPATRICK: 'PREP' ARING FOR NEXT LEVEL

by Zach Smart

White Plains is where throwback jerseys are in and Abercrombie and Fitch is out. It’s where the hard-scrabble Ferris Ave. courts play host to one of the toughest summer street leagues (outside of NYC) summer after summer after summer.


Bible-truth, White Plains has established one of the top rivalries in New York with cross-town perennial power Mount Vernon. The school breeds Division-I talent like Angelina Jolie breeds kids.


At the forefront the past two years has been Sean Kilpatrick, Spencer Mayfield’s primary scoring engine who helped the team garner some national visibility during the 2006-2007 campaign. They played a schedule that was about as serious as death and divorce that season, nearly upsetting California powerhouse Mater Dei at Pace University in Pleasantville, N.Y.


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The following year, Kilpatrick teamed up with Rashad James—the self-proclaimed “best dunker in New York State.”


The duo helped a team which had its talented 2007 roster thoroughly cleansed, rip off a 15-7 record the following year, when Kilpatrick emerged as one of the state’s most lethal scorers.

Kilpatrick, whose ability to score in clusters lifted him out of the abyss and no longer made him a second-class citizen to some of the big guns of NYC, got plenty of Big East looks.

Amongst the suitors sold on the kid with an efficient arsenal of 20-footers, mano y mano moves, and good life from the perimeter were St. John’s, Seton Hall, Pittsburgh, Providence, and Cincinnati.

He would end up choosing Cincinnati, where he committed to on October 12 and recently penned his letter of intent.

Kilpatrick, streaky at times, spent much of this season righting the academic ship (academic issues kept him from making the jump from WPHS to a Division-I hardwood home) and getting acclimated to a new environment in the woodworks of Fitchburg, Mass.

“I’m proud to say I’m part of the Notre Dame family,” said Kilpatrick, whose team split a pair of contests Friday and Saturday at the National Prep Schowcase at Bryant College last week.

“Honestly, they treat me like family over here. Going to prep school, getting prepared for college and whatever else is out there, it’s not a bad idea.”

Kilpatrick hung 26 points and corralled seven rebounds in a nailbiting, 93-92 overtime loss to Brewster Academy at the NHTI Prep Showcase.

He was off his game during Day One of the National Prep Showcase Invitational, scoring just 10 points on 5-for-18 shooting (0-9 from three-point territory), as Notre Dame was thoroughly walloped, 81-56, by a De’Andre Kane (Pitt, Uconn) and Hunter McClintock (Air Force, Kentucky, BC, Indiana, Oklahoma)-fueled Patterson backcourt tandem.

Kilpatrick and Notre Dame re-wrote the script the following day, blitzing Massanutten Military Academy to the tune of 77-52. Killpatrick worked opponents off the dribble with ease, barreling to the basket for 15 points.

After a night when it seemed they couldn’t shoot a ball into the Mississippi River if they were standing on a rowboat, the trio of Kilpatrick, Mohammed Lee (St. John’s, Pittsburgh, and Louisville have all expressed interest in the New York-bred baller) and Kenny Stewart (Rider, Elon) shot the rock at a scintillating 19-for-26 clip.

Kilpatrick has been a scorer his whole life. Playing alongside a talent-bleeding supporting cast at Prep, however, has allowed him to improve other facets of his game—rebounding, dishing, and defense.

“I’m basically going into there (Cincinnati) with the mentality that I have to score,” said Kilpatrick, who exploded for a career-high 44 points in a signature 82-79 victory over Brooklyn’s Canarsie HS last season.

Deonta Vaughn, who came into his own late last season, is one of the most prolific scorers in Bearcat history. He’ll be a senior at the same time that Kilpatrick, perhaps the highest-profile scorer the school has recruited since Vaughn, is entering.

Pressure?

“Not at all,” said Kilpatrick. “I’m going to do whatever it is my coach (Mick Cronin) asks of me. I know my scoring is really the main threat, but I would like to help out in any way that I can, in any way they need me to contribute.”

Sacrificing me for we and putting individual accolades aside for the betterment of the team, an attitude that will help any player better the college basketball odds of their team.

Now that’s something coach Mayfield has preached at White Plains for quite some time now.