Sonny Hill season tips off

Bell Atlantic and Sports Authority both posted wins on Tuesday night. Of course Gene Lett cared about the outcome of the first college game of the season in the Sonny Hill League. He was coach of Bell Atlantic -- and his team was in the midst of a dogfight of a ballgame against Frankie's Fruit Freeze. But the game meant more than that to Lett. The coach for Frankie's Fruit Freeze was none other than longtime rival Rodney Wescott. "[Wescott] lives right around the corner from me," Lett said. "So this was a big game for me and it was also a big game for him. Last year we met up and he beat me, so this year it was a revenge-type thing." And Lett got his revenge. Bell Atlantic defeated Frankie's Fruit Freeze, 75-72, in the Hank Gathers College League opener on Tuesday night in Temple's McGonigle Hall. Although the teams were evenly matched, the two coaches could not have been more polar. Wescott stayed cool and calm, while Lett became progressively louder. Although mighty in stature, Wescott was barely audible over the noise on and off the court, while the short and stocky Lett could be heard loud and clear as he barked instructions to his guard Malik Moore. But while the coaches hoped for a controlled game by their players, the action on the court often had the feel of a pickup basketball game. "It was a little out of control for the first game," said Penn guard Lamar Plummer, who also plays on the Frankie's Fruit Freeze team. "But once everybody calms down, relaxes and realizes this is basketball, everybody's going to get better." Plummer, who ran the point for Frankie's Fruit Freeze for most of the game, scored 11 in his team's loss. The second game pitted two Penn teammates against each other. Geoff Owens and his Sports Authority team squared up against incoming freshman Ugonna Onyekwe and the rest of the Pep Boys. Owens, who finished with eight points, looked strong early. Although he lost the opening tip, he scored Sports Authority's first points with an explosive two-handed dunk thirty seconds into the game. Although Onyekwe and Owens did not match up against each other during the game, they did meet twice in the lane late in the first half. Both times Onyekwe fouled Owens, and, amazingly, both times Owens -- a notoriously poor foul shooter -- drained two foul shots. "I'm really trying to work on [shooting foul shots], gaining confidence and focus," Owens said. "I want to be consistent game to game. I've had my good games even last year. Every day is a new day with free throws so I'm keeping at it." Owens and Onyekwe both played a good portion of the game -- a 70-54 win for Sports Authority. Pep Boys had the lead for most of the game, but Sports Authority pulled away in the second half. The Pep Boys team is unique in the Hank Gathers League, as it is composed of high school -- not college -- players. "This team is in the college league for one purpose only -- for them to get experience against the college guys," commissioner John Hardnett said. "They're top notch players but they have no idea until they touch this floor tonight how physical these guys are. When they go home tonight they're gonna say, 'I didn't know these guys were that big and that quick and that strong,'" Hardnett said. Last year the Pep Boys high school team won the Hank Gathers League championship. Although this year's team got off to a rocky start, Hardnett believes they could win again. "The one advantage the young guys have during the summer is they have stamina and they can run," Hardnett said. "So if they learn to play together they can really play excellent defense against the older guys who are sometimes out of shape in the early part of the year." Among the crowd members that enjoyed the excitement surrounding the beginning of the league's 31st season on Tuesday was founder and former professional basketball player Sonny Hill. "At the time I started the program back in 1968 there used to be a lot of gang problems," Hill said. "I just felt that there was a need to have something organized where the youngsters could cross all turfs and there would be no problem." Hill keeps his program alive through sponsors and gifts, as admission is free to all Sonny Hill basketball games. About 200 spectators occupied the bleachers throughout most of the night on Tuesday. "During the course of an evening we may have 1,000 people pass through the building," Hill said. "Maybe not all at the same time, but [they] are passing through." Most of the Sonny Hill games are in McGonigle Hall, but Drexel, St. Joseph's and other sites are also utilized. Penn, however, is not home to any Sonny Hill games. Hardnett points out that the Palestra is too spacious and has too many entrances and exits. Still, both Hardnett and Hill agree that Weightman Hall, with its multiple courts, would be an excellent site for Sonny Hill basketball games. But Penn, although not discouraging toward the league, has not welcomed Sonny Hill with open arms. "There's procedures you have to go through and sometimes it's a little more difficult [at Penn] than it is at some of the other universities," Hill said. "That needs to be relaxed a little only because we serve a tremendous service -- not only for the ballplayers but for community outreach." The Sonny Hill League is not exactly suffering, however. They have 13 sponsors for teams, an air-conditioned facility in McGonigle Hall and many of the top college players in the area. And, as was evident in the post-game faces of the players on Wescott's losing team -- faces filled with exhaustion and disappointment -- the Sonny Hill League certainly has intensity.