The basketball team at Monroe College performed very well during its past basketball season in a junior college league. The men’s team with branches in The Bronx and in New Rochelle posted a 33-4 record, one of the best records of any hoop squad in the metropolitan area.
Monroe was top ranked in the nation for a period of time, finished 3-1 in the national tournament, losing to the eventual winner, and wound up fifth in the nation, and in the process had a great season.
As a result, Monroe, under Head Coach Jeff Brustad, turned out several players graduating to Division I colleges.
“The big question mark was where is Orlando Sanchez going,” said a team spokesman. “The rumor is St. John’s University, but it could be Auburn or Providence or it could be anywhere.”
According to a late decision Sanchez is headed to Big East Conference Saint John’s University.
Teammate Drimir Ferguson is headed to North Carolina Central College; Davon Marshall is going to Liberty; Anthony Banks is taking his game to Longwood College and Marco Bourgault is also attending St. John’s University.
Marco is a 6-6 guard who can play forward because of his size. He can shoot and he is a dead-eye shooter from three points out. He also can keep the ball alive under the basket and he is a very heady player.
Head Coach Steve Lavin and his staff are excited about having him at St. John’s.
The athletic department at Monroe College has had a tremendous season both for men’s and women’s basketball.
“Last year our men finished third and this year wound up fifth. Monroe has turned in winning programs almost every year.
The team has been lead by Davon Marshal, who averaged about 15 points a game. He was one of two players hitting over 40 percent from three-point out, as the team turned in outstanding inside and outside games.
“We could shoot from the three,” said Gary Axelbank, sports information director at Monroe, at the Metropolitan Basketball Writers’ Association’s dinner honoring outstanding players during the past season and the winner of the Haggerty Award, going to the outstanding player in the met area.
Sanchez also led the way for the basketball team with his field goal shooting.
“The bottom line for us is number one winning and number two is providing opportunities for guys to get to division one schools (colleges),” added Axelbank. “And we did that! We had a successful season as you can imagine.
“We would have liked to have won the national championship, but when you look at our sophomores we had a two year class with a lot of (Division I) coaches scouting our guys all year long. We have hands down the best two-year program in the New York metro area.”
