Sandiford Fulfills Promise; Earns Scholarship
New Mission senior swingman Asante Sandiford accepted a scholarship offer from Franklin Pierce College on Monday, punctuating a breakout season on the AAU circuit and completing a promise he made several years ago.
The six-foot-four swingman ran with the Boston Warriors and emerged as a prospect on the rise throughout the spring and summer months. It’s been more of the same over the course of the last two months, as he has continued to improve at a rapid rate according to New Mission head coach Cory McCarthy.
“Asante is a versatile ball player and has a tremendous maturity about his game,” McCarthy said. “He is strong as they come. He never shuts up on the court and he can defend many positions on the next level.”
McCarthy, who doubles as the head coach of the Boston Warriors 11th grade squad, had a front row seat to Sandiford’s defensive dominance during the recent July evaluation period.
“At six-foot-four he defended the best players in the country in the Super Showcase in Orlando and now I believe he’ll be one of the top players in the MIAA,” he said.
Long before McCarthy was Sandiford’s coach, he was his father’s best friend. Unfortunately, Christopher Sandiford passed away in November of 2010 after a long battle with cancer, leaving behind Asante and three other children.
One of the last things that Asante Sandiford told his father was that he didn’t need to worry about him going to college, according to McCarthy, that he was going to use basketball as a way to get a free education. That, and a desire to make his mother happy, have been the driving forces behind Sandiford’s hard work as he’s gone from a virtual unknown to a scholarship player in less than one year’s time.
Now, after spending his senior season at New Mission, he’ll move on to the NE-10 where he’ll join another local product, Bonney Eagle point guard Dustin Cole, in Franklin Pierce’s incoming recruit class.
Asante Sandiford
Dustin Cole