Ex-Drake guard now an all-star for Riverhawks
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By Eric Page | Friday, January 26, 2007 |
(Nick Loomis/QUAD-CITY TIMES) Guard Lonnie Randolph averages 15 points, eight assists and seven rebounds and is the only Riverhawk invited to the ABA All-Star Game.
Sitting on the bench during a game against the Quad-City Riverhawks on Dec. 12 at Beyond the Baseline Fieldhouse, Peoria Kings guard Phillip Gilbert only could shake his head in wonder.
“Man,” Gilbert said, pointing to the statline of Riverhawks guard Lonnie Randolph. “I don’t know when he got so good.”
Randolph, whose playing career at Drake overlapped Gilbert’s days at Bradley, was in the midst of his second triple-double in a week that night, and the Kings couldn’t do anything to slow him down.
“Come on,” Peoria coach Sergio McClain shouted as Randolph drew a foul to earn a trip to the line shortly after Gilbert’s epiphany. “If we stop him, we win. If we stop him, we win. It’s that simple.”
It sounds simple. It really does, especially upon first glance at the 6-foot-2, 175-pound Randolph. But containing him has proven anything but simple for American Basketball Association foes through 23 games this season.
Randolph’s numbers aren’t overwhelming — 15 points, seven rebounds, eight assists. But his consistency, leadership and propensity for making plays at critical junctures is what earned him a spot in Sunday’s ABA All-Star Game in Halifax, Nova Scotia.
“Lonnie’s a winner,” Riverhawks coach Jim Condill has said countless times throughout the season. “All he does is win.”
Exhibit A: Randolph makes 15 of 17 free throws on his way to 30 points in a 117-112 win over the Hammond Rollers on Nov. 25.
Exhibit B: He burns the Rollers again, this time for 14 of his 16 points in the fourth quarter of an 87-86 win on Dec. 18.
Exhibit C: With five seconds to play and $1,500 on the line in an ABA prize-money game against Minnesota on Jan. 8, Randolph takes the ball the length of the court and hits a floating jumper in the lane with 0.1 seconds on the clock. The winning basket caps the first triple-double in Riverhawks history — 10 points, 10 rebounds, 10 assists.
But the stats don’t tell the whole story of the player who has been the rock on which this infant franchise has laid its foundation.
How did Randolph get here? And why is he wasting his time playing for a few hundred dollars a week in a dead-end league when he could be making real money putting to use the marketing degree he earned from Drake in 2005?
The answers lay in a deeply-rooted faith and a distant, likely unattainable dream.
The son of a former Indiana state senator and East Chicago, Ind., city judge, Randolph was more highly recruited for football than basketball when he graduated from Merrillville High School in 2001. In fact, he turned down scholarship offers to play defensive back at Illinois and Wisconsin in order to pursue the game he loved.
“I never wanted to play football. I always just played football to have something to do before basketball season,” said Randolph, who admits when fall rolls around, he still wonders where he might be today had he chosen the gridiron over the hard wood.
Once at Drake, he had little time to second guess. He broke into the starting lineup as a freshman and was a fixture in the Bulldogs backcourt for four years. He consistently was among the Missouri Valley Conference leaders in steals and as a junior was named second-team all-conference after averaging 12 points, four rebounds, four assists and three steals per game. He also earned a spot on the MVC’s all-defensive team that year.
His senior season, though, was a bit of a disappointment. His averages dropped in every statistical category, and he actually came off the bench in eight games as Drake struggled to a 13-16 finish.
When he left Drake, Randolph heeded the advice of coach Tom Davis, who told him not to worry about the money or the prestige of the professional league in which he played — the experience was the only thing that mattered.
“Everybody has dreams of playing at the top level, which is, of course, the NBA,” Randolph said. “What I focus on is trying to be the best player, the best person I can be. Wherever God takes me, that’s where I’ll be.”
Randolph was not selected in the 2005 Continental Basketball Association draft but caught on with the Gary Steelheads, where roughly half his teammates had spent time in the NBA. He rarely played as the team made a run to the CBA finals, but his time with the Steelheads was an education in the pro game.
“I was competing against my teammates every day in practice, and they were showing me the ropes,” Randolph said. “That was the biggest thing for me, going against guys who actually played in the NBA and knowing that I could hold my own.
“My confidence, as a result, is at a level it has never been at before.”
Now, the diminutive Randolph, who also was a standout high school quarterback, is calling all the right signals for the Riverhawks, who with a 17-6 record lead the ABA White Conference’s Central Division and have reached No. 5 in the league’s power rankings.
“Lonnie gets everyone in position where they need to be, and he’s very good at it,” Riverhawks forward Ryan Edwards said. “He keeps us under control, in the right position to score and in the right position on defense.”
How much longer can he continue on this path? Randolph isn’t sure. He turned 24 earlier this month and recognizes this can’t possibly last forever. And the ABA traditionally has been a stop for players on their way down rather than up the professional latter.
When the season ends in March, he plans to chase a roster spot in the USBL, NBDL or a league overseas. Law school, he said, is the next step, with a career in corporate law as the final destination. He already got the ball rolling by taking the Law School Admission Council test during his senior year at Drake.
For now, though, it’s basketball. And Randolph has faith he’ll know when to let it go.
“I’m on God’s time. It’s His plan,” Randolph said. “Whenever He takes these legs from me or tells me it’s time to hang it up, I’ll be finished. I know there is life after basketball, and I have backup plans. Right now, I’m just not ready for a 9-to-5.”
Eric Page can be contacted at (563) 383-2277 or epage@qctimes.com.
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