■ 10 November 2008 | 10:40 PM
Marsharee Neely played the Monarchs’ exhibition games with a heavy heart.
Anthony Bryant, a close friend and mentor of Neely’s, died Oct. 31 after a battle with cancer. It’s the second time recently that an ODU player has been touched by tragedy. Ben Finney’s younger brother Rashawn was shot and killed earlier this fall.
Bryant was an English teacher at Page High School in Greensboro, but to Neely he was much more.
“He helped me with a lot of things other than in the classroom,” said Neely, a junior guard. “I talked to him about a lot of problems.”
Bryant was diagnosed with cancer during Neely’s freshman year at ODU. Bryant died a day before the Monarchs’ exhibition opener against Chowan. Neely missed four of his five shots and finished with three points that night.
“It really crushed me,” Neely said of Bryant’s death. “I sat at home and just cried because he did so much for me. I owe a lot of my success to him, to this day.”
A week later Neely turned in a dynamic performance in an exhibition game against Virginia State. With his family watching at the Constant Center on Saturday, Neely scored a game-high 21 points and made 9 of 11 shots, including 3 of 4 treys.
“I knew I had to step it up and I’ve got a season and school and everything,” Neely said. “He wouldn’t want to see me fall down; he’d want me to just pick myself up.”
That’s a wrap
Some notable numbers from ODU’s two exhibition games ...
60 - Three-point shooting percentage of Marsharee Neely and Jonathan Adams, who combined to go 6 for 10 from behind the arc.
17 – Three-point shooting percentage of the rest of the Monarchs (4 for 23)
17 – Frank Hassell’s total rebounds, tops on the team
5 – Blocks by Kent Bazemore
6,124 – Total attendance for two games at the Ted
Radio ruminations
Coach Blaine Taylor told listeners of his weekly radio show on AM 1310 Monday that he expects to red-shirt one, maybe two, players this season. No word on who that will be.
Leading candidates, though, appear to be freshmen Nick Wright and Trian Iliadis. Wright played only 14 minutes in the exhibitions, and he could use a year to bulk up. Iliadis still is nursing a stress fracture in his right foot.
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Check the blog later this week for a look at ODU’s season-opening opponent, Charlotte. We'll hear from Jim Utter, who covers the 49ers for the Charlotte Observer. ODU visits Charlotte on Sunday.
And, in case you're wondering, Saturday's Pilot is scheduled to feature previews of Old Dominion and the CAA.
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