Youth Movement

ASSIST To Field Youngest Tri-City Team

by Stephen M. Lewis
Content Editor

ASSIST Student Athletes is sponsoring one of the six teams in the Tri-City Summer League that begins Tuesday at John Marshall High School at 6 p.m.

Most, if not all of the names, should ring a bell as the teams features players not even two years out of high school.

Tray Okoth is one. Okoth was the Central Region player of the year in the 2005-06 season and spent last season at Cleveland State Community College.

The squad features eight 2007 graduates, six of them all-district performers, including Manchester’s Earl Gee, who is still unsigned at this point.

Gee, a 5-10 point guard, averaged 22 points per game for the Lancers, earning second-team All-Metro honors.

“I feel this will be a good experience for the student-athletes from ASSIST,” said William Duron Carter, Founder of ASSIST. “This will be an opportunity for these guys to go up against profressional players night in and night out. We are the youngest team in the league, so we have to run those older guys.”

Tray Okoth

Below is ASSIST’s roster that includes many players that the organization helped to get in school:

Anthony Sally (Chest. Comm. HS), Motlow CC (Tenn.)
Chris Washington (James River), Va. State
Tray Okoth (Henrico), Cleveland State CC
Aaron Mitchell (Matoaca), Manattee CC (Fla.)
Rocky Patterson (Varina), Christopher Newport
Earl Gee (Manchester), undecided
Edward Young, Rockingham CC
Philip Pandak (St. Christopher’s), The Citadel
Greg Grant (Huguenot), Manattee CC (Fla.)
Norris Gaskins (Varina), U.Va.-Wise
Lenny Daniels (Armstrong/G. Wythe), Coffeyville CC (Kansas)
Calvin Lee (Matoaca), Allegheny CC (Md.)
Desmone Dickerson (Henrico), Essex CC (NJ)
T.J. Granger (Thomas Jefferson), Fayetteville State