JUSTIN Jackette’s game could not be any different than his background and appearance.
His credentials: Caucasian male residing in suburban Valhalla, attended Iona Prep where he holds the team’s career scoring record with 1,355 points, has above a 3.0 GPA, and a basketball pedigree as the son and grandson of Manhattan basketball alumni, and according to the media guide, his favorite food is chicken marsala with Portabella mushrooms.
You’re thinking: “shooter. Pure jump shooter.” You’re wrong.
“People don’t understand how athletic he is,” said Manhattan coach Bobby Gonzalez of the 20-year old, 6-2 sophomore. “I think they thought when he came out of Iona Prep, suburban white kid from Westchester, two car garage jump shot, he’s a stand-still guy . . . [Actually], he really attacks the rim with relentlessness and explosion. He dunks on guys in traffic.”
That’s the way Jackette likes to play. He likes when someone looks at him as a pushover, a guy who doesn’t belong on the court. He knows the truth. Playing on the hard courts of the Rucker league and with the Riverside Church AAU team has taught Jackette how to play with the street ballers of Harlem.
“I’m always diving around the floor, diving after loose balls,” said Jackette. “I grew up playing with Riverside Church. I always played that way because I played with city kids all my life. I just molded in and played like that. It’s more fun to play like that rather than just stand around and shoot jump shots.”
With his resume sporting teams like Riverside and Iona Prep, you’d think Jackette was destined to stay home and follow his father, Dick, and his grandfather, Joe, to play at Manhattan. It didn’t turn out that way.
He decided to leave the only home he knew to travel to William and Mary in Virginia. It may have been a good decision, though he ultimately transferred back home. At William and Mary, Jackette averaged 12.1 points per game and was named to the First-Team All-Rookie in the Colonial Athletic Conference.
“I just wanted to get away,” said Jackette. “I wanted to go down south where the weather was warm.”
How’d dad take the news?
“He totally stayed out of my decision,” said Jackette, “but I can tell that [my parents] weren’t that happy when they were driving eight hours to see my home game every day. They’d much rather drive 20 minutes from home now instead.”
Jackette decided to return to Manhattan (8-10) for one sole reason: Bobby Gonzalez. He needed the run-and-gun style that the vibrant second year Manhattan coach instituted and Gonzalez was more than happy to give Jackette what he needed.
“I know [Eddie] Lorch [head of the Riverside Church program] very well, so I called up the Riverside people and got his cell phone number,” said Gonzalez. “I just started calling him every week. He was like a guy I had to get.”
Now at Manhattan, Jackette is second on the team in both scoring and rebounding with 10.8 ppg and 70 total boards. While solid numbers, both Gonzalez and Jackette expect more, especially from the shooting side of the offense.
“I used to have the jump shot, but I kinda lost it this year. It’s coming back,” said Jackette with a confident smile. “I’ll get it back.”
Gonzalez also predicts that he will get it back, but it almost doesn’t matter. He still does the intangibles that no one expects from a suburbanite. Whether he gets his shot back, he’ll still continue to fool everyone.