Prep Profile – Lee Academy

New England Recruiting Report | Tuesday, October 30th, 2012

Good things come to those who drive.  

That’s been a recruiting theme over the years at Lee Academy as the college coaches who take on the long drive north are often rewarded by finding ample supply of talented players who are occasionally under-recruited.  

That theory has already been validated twice this fall as Drexel and Vermont both scored steals with commitments from Mohamed Bah and Kiefer Douse respectively.  

Bah, and six-foot-eight native of Mali, saw a steady dose of mid-major suitors before deciding on the Dragons, but given the lack of big men left on the national market, had the potential to play his way to “higher levels” with a solid senior season.  

It was a similar story for Douse, a six-foot-three point guard who went under-recruited after splitting his time between Canadian national teams and a Texas based AAU program this summer, before Vermont scooped him up.  

Also committed is six-foot-five small forward Stefan Zecevic, a sharp-shooting Serbian native who will sign with Bradley during November’s early signing period.  

While Bah, Douse, and Zecevic are now off the board, there is plenty more value to be found in Lee, Maine this season.  

Rashad Andrews is a long and powerful swingman who comes north by way of Boys and Girls High School in New York.  A product of Sports U’s grassroots program, Andrews was committed to division II Adelphi last season but is already generating wide-ranging recruitment at higher levels this season.  

Joining Andrews and Zecevic on the wing will be Arturas Makovskis, a skilled six-foot-four Lithuanian native now in his third season at Lee.  Other swingmen who could get a look at the rotation include: a pair of twins from Mali by way of Pennsylvania in Fousseini Konate and Lassana Konate; Dwain Clare, a six-foot-four power player from the Bahamas; Mansour Thiam, a versatie six-foot-five athlete from Saudi Arabia; and Felipe Teixeira, an inside out combo-forward who won a state championship at Immaculate High School in Connecticut last season after arriving from Brazil.  

Douse will have plenty of help in the backcourt beginning with Stoughton (MA) transfer Aaron Calixte and post-graduate combo-guard Charles Foster.  Calixte is a well known local product with the ability to create his own shot almost on demand.  Foster, who was previously committed to Morehead State in the class of 2012, will provide a nice compliment with his ability to shoot the ball from long range.  

While that three guard rotation should provide the brunt of the perimeter firepower in the Lee line-up, Boubacar Diallo is a much improved player who worked his way up from the school’s high school squad while Marcos Oliveira is a pure point guard who can provide additional depth.  Oliveira, Teixeira, and six-foot-seven big man Vitor Melo all made the same trip from Brazil to Immaculate High School and now to Lee.  

Melo will provide similar depth up front where Bah will be the headliner and Zhongda He and Marcelo Deschamps should also play significant roles.  He is a talented six-foot-eight big man from China who returns to Lee after spending time here as a sophomore while Deschamps is another Brazilian native who is back for his second season in Maine.   

The task of blending together this mix of international personalities falls on the qualified hands of second year head coach Deshon Gaither, who exceeded expectations in his first year at the helm of the program with a 29-10 record.  The Pandas are already off to a good start with a 3-1 record to date but big match-ups on the horizon with the likes of Notre Dame Prep, St. John’s NW Military Academy, and the New Hampton School.