Peacocks to play in pre-season NIT; Banks beats Padres

The St. Peter's College men's basketball team has been selected to play in the 2002 pre-season National Invitation Tournament.

The Peacocks, in the preseason NIT for the first time since it originated in 1985, will open on November 18 in Cincinnati at Xavier.

The first two rounds are at participant-hosted sites around the country, before coming to Madison Square Garden for semifinal and championship doubleheaders on November 27 and 29.

The Peacocks were a dismal 4-24 last year, but will begin the new season with high hopes, led by the return of senior Corien John, who averaged nearly 13 points per game last year, and the athletic Devin Thompson, who played very well down the stretch of the season.

The Peacocks also look to the addition of newcomers Ivan Bozovic, a talented 6-foot-10 sophomore from Yugoslavia, and freshmen guards Keydren Clark and George Jefferson, who is definitely - pardon the joke here - movin' on up.

Clark starred at Rice High School, the New York State Federation champion and New York City Catholic champion ranked sixth nationally by USA Today. Jefferson compiled 1,830 points and 1,315 rebounds in his career at Automotive High School in Brooklyn. He averaged 29 points and 19 rebounds as a senior, leading the New York City public schools in rebounding his last two seasons.

In Xavier, the Peacocks will face one of the top teams in the 2002 preseason NIT field. The Musketeers were 26-6 in 2001-2002, advancing to the second round of the NCAA Tournament, where they lost to Oklahoma. Others teams in the 2002 field include past champions North Carolina, Florida and Kansas.

While 2002 will mark the Peacocks' first appearance in the preseason NIT, the postseason NIT has played a huge part in the Peacocks' basketball history. SPC has been one of the most frequent participants in the NIT, with 12 appearances between 1957 and 1989.

The 1968 NIT will forever be a part of SPC lore, as the Peacocks advanced to the tournament semifinals with a 100-71 win over Duke, the tournament favorite and the No. 4-ranked team in the nation at the time.

Just over a decade later, the Peacocks advanced to the quarterfinals of the 1980 NIT. By then, the early tournament rounds were played at on-campus sites, and the Peacocks won road games at UConn and Duquesne, before finally falling in Las Vegas to UNLV, 67-62.

SPC head coach Bob Leckie played on NIT-qualifying teams in each of his three years as a guard for the Peacocks (1967, 1968 and 1969).

So it's safe to say that the Peacocks will learn how good they are early on in facing Xavier in the Preseason NIT...

Congrats to Jersey City's Willie Banks, who earned his first win with the Boston Red Sox, defeating the San Diego Padres Monday night in relief. Banks, who was recalled by the Red Sox two weeks ago, is pitching long relief out of the Sox' bullpen...

The Golden Falcon Baseball Camp, under the tutelage of New Jersey Institute of Technology assistant coach Ed Ward, will hold three sessions for boys and girls, grades kindergarten through eight. The first two sessions will be held at the Gunnall Oval in Kearny (July 8-12 and July 15-19) and the third session will be held at Mill Ridge Road complex in Secaucus (July 22-26).

For more information, please contact Ward at (908) 351-5783. - Jim Hague