H.S. HOOPS: St. Rays 84 – Cardozo 70
Julius Hodge hit a game-winning jumper with eight seconds left on Saturday night, the kind of dramatic play the 6-4 guard has made for most of his career.
But the shot didn’t result in a win for the Denver Nuggets, the team that drafted him out of N.C. State last year. Rather, Hodge’s heroics happened in Tulsa, where his Austin Toros team was playing in the NBDL.
The Harlem native and former St. Raymonds star has played four games for the Toros after hardly getting on the floor at all while with Denver. His rookie pro season isn’t going the way one would hope, but Hodge insists otherwise.
“I know it’s not a matter of my talent,” said Hodge, whose coach is now former Celtic guard Dennis Johnson. “My opportunity will come.”
Oliver Antigua, who was an assistant when Hodge played at the Bronx school, isn’t worried, either.
“He’s never had success right away,” Antigua said. “But he’s a winner and he’s only going to get better.”
Antigua saw that first-hand when Hodge transformed from an athletic but awkward underclassman who wasn’t considered to be a sure-fire prospect into a first-round pick after leading the Wolfpack to the Sweet 16 as a senior in last year’s NCAA Tournament.
That path started, at least in part, at St. Raymonds, where Hodge played for Gary Decesare, the DePaul assistant who was in attendance as well yesterday when Hodge had his No. 24 jersey retired at halftime of the Ravens’ 84-70 win over Cardozo.
While the star of the day started out as Hodge, it may have ended up being guard Gerald Colds, who gave a performance that even Hodge could have envied. The 5-10 junior torched Cardozo for a career-high 40 points, hitting shots from everywhere – much like Hodge used to do.
“It meant a lot to have him here,” said Colds. “He came here to watch us play and he’s from Harlem, like me.”
While the diminutive Colds doesn’t figure to become quite the athlete that Hodge has, Antigua sees some similarities.
“Maybe he’ll be the next great player for St. Raymond’s,” Antigua said. “He’s flying under the radar did, too.”