Anthony Pate left his hometown of Toronto for Long Island Lutheran to test himself against top competition and increase his exposure. He went back for the very same reasons.
The sweet-shooting, 6-foot-4 off guard has spent a chunk of the summer with the Canadian U17 national team. He helped them to a fifth-place finish in the 2012 FIBA U17World Championship in Kaunas, Lithuania, a memorable experience that should only help him this winter with LuHi, where his role will almost certainly expand.
“I’ve never been anywhere like that before,” he said. “Being able to represent my country, my home, felt very cool.”
The last year of Pate’s life has been a whirlwind, from leaving Toronto and landing at LuHi to hitting the game-winning 3-point shot at the buzzer in the state Federation Class A championship game to going back home and making the Canadian team.
Canada’s sixth man, Pate got a chance to face some of the world’s top talents. He averaged 3.4 points in 13 minutes per game.
“Competing with top players around the world it will make me a better player,” he said.
He’s also kept busy on the AAU circuit with the New Rens, crisscrossing the country with the area’s top prospects. He helped the Rens to The Hoop Group’s Summer Jam Fest crown last week in King Of Prussia, Pa. and will be with them this week at the elite Fab 48 event in Las Vegas.
Pate came to Long Island Lutheran at the suggestion of assistant coach Shannon Clancy, who knew his father, Gabriel Pate, a hockey player in his day. Pate tried the sport, but wasn’t very good. He adapted to basketball much quicker.
A southpaw marksman, Pate’s recruitment is on the rise. He has landed scholarship offers from North Carolina State, Quinnipiac, Marist, Stony Brook, St. Louis and heavy interest from Harvard and Yale, though he may do a postgraduate year. LuHi coach John Buck feels he has only scratched the surface.
“He’s one of the best scorers in the area,” Buck said. “He can really score the ball in a variety of ways. His best skill, or most deadly weapon you can call it, it his pull-up jumper. It’s a lost art in the game today.”
Pate admittedly had his ups and downs in his first year away from home, meeting new people and living with a host family in Huntington, L.I. The biggest change on the court Buck has noticed in his defense — he didn’t play much of it back in the fall. When Pate came back to help out at LuHi camp recently, Buck noticed how much more confidence his rising senior was.
That began with the game-winning shot — when Buck has trouble seeing he watches replays of it — and has continued this spring and summer, in International play and on the AAU circuit.
“Not many kids not only hit a state championship-winning shot, but can come back,” Buck said. “He has tremendous momentum.”
Whatever happens from here, Pate will keep his eye on the national team and remaining in the program. His dream is to represent Canada in the 2016 Olympics under new general manager Steve Nash, the superstar NBA point guard.
“I always strived for that when I was younger,” Pate said. “I think it’s possible.”