Former Phoenix born again at Niagara
After graduating from St. Francis in the spring of 2017, Cele Kasamba drifted away from the sport of basketball.
He trained last year at Brock University without playing before attending a tryout camp at the end of this past summer with the Niagara College men’s basketball program.
“It was the love of basketball,” the 21-year-old said, when asked what brought him back to the hardcourt. “When I played, I had a positive image in the community and the younger kids looked up to me. Abu (Kigab) and I made it pretty far and we had good accomplishments.”
Kasamba didn’t need to introduce himself to Niagara head coach Phil Mosley.
“Obviously I knew who he was by name and I knew that he was a talented player in high school. I hadn’t see him for a couple of years but I was excited to see him come into the program,” he said. “We talked about his academics and what he wanted to do and we started up a basketball relationship. So far, it’s progressing in a positive way.”
Basketball was only part of the discussion.
“A lot of talk was around what he was going to do here to make him successful in his life and not just in basketball,” Mosley said.
Kasamba played three minutes in a 84-75 loss to Lambton and four minutes in an 83-65 loss to St. Clair before netting 10 points and eight rebounds in 16 minutes of playing time in a 93-53 thumping of Conestoga.
“We are still working him in,” Mosley said. “Any time you sit out for a year or two from organized basketball, I think it takes a while for you to hit your stride to play structured basketball.
“That has been the biggest deterrent to him making an immediate impact.”
If Kasamba sticks with it, Mosley envisions a bright future for the 6-foot-2 player.
“He has all the tools and all the talent to be a major player in the OCAA (Ontario Colleges Athletic Association),” he said. “He needs to continue to work hard in practice, pick up all of the game concepts and settle in to what he does.
“I think he could be an elite defender and he’s got really strong offensive skills as well.”
Kasamba agrees he’s not quite back to where he was on the basketball court.
“Because I took a little bit of time off, my shot is not quite 100 per cent there,” he said. “Each practice is more and more repetition, I get more muscle memory and it starts to click in a little more.
“I am getting more and more into the mix at each game and practice, and coach sees that I am progressing.”
Kasamba knows defence will continue to be his bread and butter.
“That is something I have always taken pride in ever since St. Francis,” he said. “We didn’t have a lot of talent so we took pride in our defence and that’s what got us a lot of our wins.
“Defence is something I prioritize and when I am on the court, I want to guard the best player and let him know it’s not going to be easy.”
His personal goal for the season is a lofty one as he’s gunning to be the OCAA rookie of the year.
“If I improve every week, I could get that,” he said.
Away from the court, he is studying construction management.
Niagara heads into its 8 p.m. Friday home opener against Sheridan with a 1-2 record.
“The league is extremely tough and the teams that we played on our first road trip are good basketball teams,” Mosley said. “They were good last year and they are probably better this year.”
He is confident his team can also be good.
“We have to be better, but I think we can compete with anybody in the league, but right now we have to get healthy and we have to get better.”
Impressive rookie Kennon Larmand broke his finger in preseason and is expected back in a week or two. When he’s back, he will join a team that is a work in progress.
“Guys who didn’t play a lot of basketball last year are emerging into roles and they need to step up a little bit more.” Mosley said.
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