Feb 2, 2006
With two steals in a 71-63 Northeast-10 Conference loss last night, St. Peter's product John Baiano became Southern New Hampshire's all-time career steals leader.
But as Penmen coach Stan Spirou, currently in his 21st year, will tell you, the senior point guard has meant much more to the program than just numbers.
"It's difficult to describe the kind of impact that John has had on the program," Spirou said. "People just look at scoring averages -- and he's done his share of scoring coming up on 1,000 points (Baiano is just 70 short after last night's game) -- but he has changed us with his defense. We've become a better defensive team and better defensive program because of him."
But Spirou does remember a time when he thought Baiano was just another undersized point guard coming out of high school.
"A former SNHU player, Joe Castronovo (who also starred at St. Peter's and is 21st on SNHU's career scoring list) told us about this kid from Staten Island at St. Peter's. Right away we had questions about his size," said Spirou of the 5-9 Baiano. "I spoke with coach (Rich) LaGrotta and coach (Charlie) Driscoll about him and they told me he wasn't the biggest kid, but he has the biggest heart. I went to a St. Peter's game against a very good Rice team and he more than held his own. As soon as I saw him, I could tell they were right on target. St. Peter's lost pretty big, I think, but John never backed off. Not for a second."
It was that encounter that landed Baiano at SNHU, where Castronovo and another former Eagle, Billy Dunn, had starred before him.
"Coach LaGrotta and coach Driscoll were really trying to find me a good place to play," said Baiano, who has nearly a 2-to-1 assist-to-turnover ratio this season (115 assists, 61 turnovers). "And to come here, to play for a premier Division II college, I feel like thanking coach Spirou every single day for giving me the opportunity." And the opportunity came quickly. Spirou said that Baiano was good enough to start from the first day, sliding D-II All-American point guard Soto Karapostolou over to shooting guard.
SNHU, currently ranked sixth in the NCAA Division II Northeast Region, is 15-7 overall and 11-6 in the Norteast-10 Conference. They have made 14 appearances in the NCAA Division II Tournament under Spirou, including all three years that Baiano has run the show. All three have been at large bids, as the NE-10 Conference Tournament Championship has eluded Baiano's Penmen.
"All the accomplishments are fantastic, but it's not the stat line that counts, it's whether you win or not" said Baiano, who may be able to play overseas after his SNHU career is over, but would eventually like to pursue teaching and coaching. "I've been blessed to play with great teammates and for great coaches here and at St. Peter's. This year, my fellow seniors, Miguel Gonzalez and P. J. Young (SNHU's top-two scorers), we want to go out with a bang. And as seniors, knowing all of the hours we've put in, I can't think of a better way than a conference championship and an NCAA championship. That would be like I died and went to Heaven."
BROWN MAKING HIS MARK
It was obvious last season, while he was an Advance All Star at Port Richmond, that SUNY-Potsdam guard Damon Brown was capable of lighting it up from the outside.
But last week Brown was exceptionally hot, shooting 68 percent (15 of 22) from the field and draining 9 of 10 three-pointers the Bears' two games last week -- a 71-69 loss to Plattsburgh on Tuesday and a 82-63 win over Oneonta State, which features Farrell grad Michael Reardon (he had seven points, four rebounds and three assists in the game).
In the narrow loss to Plattsburgh, Brown was 6 of 6 from long distance on his way to a game-high 24 points. He scored 18 in the comeback win over Oneonta and had four rebounds, three assists and no turnovers. For his performance, the 6-2 freshman guard was honored as SUNYAC Player of the Week. Potsdam is 10-7 overall this season and 5-3 in the SUNYAC.
Daniel O'Leary is a sports writer for the Staten Island Advance. He can be reached at oleary@siadvance.com.
