Published: October 21, 2008 11:45 pm      

MEN'S BASKETBALL: Purple Eagles put new pieces together

LEWISTON — Tyrone Lewis took one practice to get acclimated. By the second practice, he realized how much different this preseason will be.

“The first day is always crazy,” said Lewis, the top returning player on the Niagara men’s basketball team. “But after the second day, I went to coach (Joe) Mihalich and said, ‘This is different.’

“Not everybody knows the plays, or the drills we run. Even the guys that were with us last year, they didn’t go through every drill. It’s been hectic.”

Barely two years removed from his fabulous freshman season, Lewis is now the most experienced Purple Eagle, not by age, but by minutes played. He is joined by two other starters from last year’s 19-10 squad — sophomore guard Anthony Nelson and senior center Benson Egemonye — as well as reserve forwards Demetrius Williamson and Kamau Gordon, and a walk-on Chris Armstrong.

The rest of the roster has yet to suit up for Niagara.

The Purple Eagles opened practice over the weekend with three freshman, and three new players who sat out least season.

Two of those players are touted transfers Rob Garrison (Connecticut) and Bilal Benn (Villanova). The other is Kashief Edwards, a redshirt freshman.

It’s been assumed that Garrison, the former Niagara Falls High School star, and Benn will fit like 59/50s into the Purple Eagles lineup, assuming the roles vacated by Stanley Hodge and Charron Fisher, who have both moved on to play professional ball overseas.

Mihalich has hinted at that possibility since the end of last season. Garrison is a natural point guard like Hodge, and while the 6-foot-5 Benn might have trouble matching Fisher’s 27-point scoring average, he appears to have the same combination of speed and strength that Fisher used to thrive as an undersized forward.

But Mihalich said Monday that with so many new pieces, he’s going to need the full month of preseason (Niagara opens at home Nov. 16 against Towson) to figure out his team’s niche.

“We’re going to be able to play a couple of different ways,” he said. “Now, I don’t know if any of them will be any good. But we can play big, we can play small, and we can play a combination of big and small.”

Both Garrison and Lewis identified Edwards as the team’s sleeper. Though he stands 6-foot-5, Edwards has explosive leaping ability that allows him to play bigger than his height.

“He’s like a smaller Clif Brown,” said Lewis, referencing one of the key players from Niagara’s NCAA Tournament run two years ago.

Luuk Kortekaas doesn’t need to jump to play big. Listed at 6-foot-11, he’s the tallest player Mihalich has brought to Niagara. But while the freshman from the Netherlands is almost tall enough to touch the championship banners at the Gallagher Center, he’s also as thin as the ropes holding them up.

Niagara’s other freshman forward, Eric Williams, could be facing a redshirt season, as he still hasn’t returned to full strength after having surgery in May to repair a torn anterior cruciate ligament. But Mihalich said he won’t make that determination until the eve of the season.

Meanwhile, for the third straight season, Mihalich seems to have a freshman guard ready to make an immediate impact.

“This kid is pretty talented,” said Mihalich, unsolicited, of Austin Cooley, a 6-foot-5 guard from the D.C. area. “In August, I didn’t know how much he’d play, but now it looks like he’s definitely in the picture.”

Despite this influx of talent, Mihalich is still searching for Fisher and Hodge’s replacements.

“We’re waiting for somebody to take over, whether it’s one, two, three or four people, and make it their team,” he said. “Last year, Stanley and Charron did that right away.”

Lewis seems like the natural leader. He was the MAAC Tournament MVP as a freshman, and a second-team all-conference player last season. There’s also the 26-year-old Egemonye, and Nelson, a pure point guard who started every game last season.

But after their disappointing terms in the Big East, Garrison and Benn can’t contain their enthusiasm to get back in the game.

“Even though they’re kind of looked at as the new guys, they’ve taken that leadership role and tried to set the tone early,” Lewis said. “It’s a lot easier when you’ve got more than one leader.”