Projo College Hoops

After an outstanding (and long) break, there are a few hoop happenings in the Rhode Island basketball scene. Look for some basketball features and notes in the Journal and on projo.com this week.

Both Jeff Xavier (Pawtucket, Providence College) and Parfait Bitee (URI) played well in the Olympic qualifying tournament but will not be competing for their countries in China next month.
Xavier, who'll be a senior at PC this fall, played for his native Cape Verde. He scored 22 points against New Zealand and 21 against Germany but his team was blown out in both games. Xavier fired in 5 threes in the loss to the Germans and their star, Dirk Nowitzki.
Bitee handled the point guard duties for Cameroon but his country was soundly defeated by both Croatia and Puerto Rico. Bitee averaged 15.5 points and 4 assists in the two games. Bitee is hoping to play in Europe in the 2008-09 season.

South Kingstown brothers Erik and Alex Murphy are off to Las Vegas tomorrow for the July showcase tournaments. Erik (who is a 6-9 rising senior headed to Florida) and Alex (a 6-7 repeat freshman) will play together at St. Mark's of Southboro, MA this year. A feature on the Murphys will run in The Journal sometime this week.

The Murphy's aren't the only Rhode Islanders heading West. The Rhode Island Hawks AAU team and Expressions team are both stocked with local players, including Smithfield's Mike Marra (headed to Louisville) and Exeter's Ben Crenca. More on the summeer AAU scene later this week.

KEVIN McNAMARA

 Tags  Jeff Xavier PC URI

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