Lee Academy Profile

NewEnglandBasketballServices.com | Tuesday, November 28th, 2006

Before the summer of 2005 no college basketball coach had ever heard of Lee, Maine unless they had a very remote vacation destination. But now the small town that is closer to the Canadian border than any major U.S. city is a must stop recruiting destination for some of the top college basketball programs in the country. And if you don’t believe how far this team has come has come in such a short amount of time just consider what they have done since this season began. They held home court in what many would consider to be an upset victory over Winchendon and then split their two games at the National Prep Showcase dominating Our Savior New America and falling just short of Stoneridge Prep despite a terrific second half run that actually gave them the lead after being down by 20 points at one point in the game.

The school was very smart to build their team around two local talents in 6’2 guard Corey Bingham and 6’7 power forward Travon Wilcher when they began their program last fall. Both Massachusetts natives, and members of the New England Playaz AAU program, have been recruited at very high levels. Wilcher, a super athletic and bouncy forward, committed to the University of Massachusetts over the summer and Bingham has been generating interest from a host of mid-major programs as well.

This year Bingham and Wilcher are joined by a host of other talented players including 6’5 shooting guard Chris Baez, 7’1 center Tomasz Kwaitkowski, and 6’3 junior point guard Nate Tomlinson to name a few. Baez had a break-out performance at the National Prep Showcase last week showing a terrific three-point shooting touch along with tremendous athleticism. Kwiatkowski has been generating quite a buzz since arriving in Lee from Poland, receiving a wide variety of interest and scholarship offers from high major programs. Junior point guard Nate Tomlinson is another international product coming by way of Australia. He is a pure point-guard in virtually every way as he is a tremendous passer, makes good decisions with the ball, a tough competitor, and capable of creating his own offense if need be.

Coach Parker also has a number of scholarship prospects to provide quality depth behind this first five. 6’3 guard Sessoo Ikpah is a very talented player who led Lee Academy in scoring with 18 points in their 100-56 route of Our Savior New America at the National Prep Showcase. Jimmy Chaundry a 6’2 swingman actually started both games last weekend and showed a nice combination of athleticism and outside shooting. 6’3 shooting guard Alan Branch has already committed to Central Connecticut State University. Boston native Deshawn Gibbons is an athletic 6’5 forward who can play multiple positions on the front line. Dorian Williams is a slasher who will provide depth in the backcourt. Sophomore and Connecticut native Eliseo Nieves also played well at the National Prep Showcase scoring 15 points and grabbing 10 rebounds in their first victory of the weekend. Also expected to contribute to Coach Parker’s squad is 6’4 SF and Massachusetts native Jeff Britto, 6’2 PG and another Massachusetts native Aaron Christian, 6’1 SG Sesha Devic, and 6’2 swingman Shomari Moore.

Coach Parker’s squad will take on many of the top national programs this season as they strive to prove that they belong in the same breath with those teams. And if the last two weeks are any indication that is exactly what they will do.