Sports

Houston makes most of his second chance

Deonte Houston went from under-recruited to not being recruited at all.

Despite a standout senior season at Wings Academy, The Bronx native held no scholarship offers in the spring of 2011. Then he was arrested on burglary charges, charges that were dropped 13 days after they were filed.

“When the situation occurred, no prep schools wanted me,” he recalled.

Times have changed.

Houston went the junior college route and landed at Olney Central Community College in Illinois, where is off to a fast start. He has led Olney to a 6-1 record and was ranked 28th overall by JucoJunction.com. Coastal Carolina and Eastern Illinois have offered him a full scholarship and Wichita State is heavily involved.

“Coming out here I grew up,” said Houston, who is averaging over 15 points per game, four rebounds and four assists. “I got my priorities straight. In JUCO, there’s really not much to do but school and basketball. It increased my work ethic.”

Olney head coach Mike Burris said the 6-foot-1 Houston has been a model citizen since transferring in last December. He’s on pace to qualify and graduate on time. Though he was unable to play last year, Houston excelled in practice and has picked up where he left off as a pass-first point guard capable of getting wherever he wants on the floor and knocking down the 3-point shot.

“He’s a winner, he wants to win and he’ll do what it takes to win games,” Burris said. “Those guys are worth their weight in gold. He’s a big part of why we’re successful right now.”

Burris said he expects Houston’s recruitment to mirror that of former Olney star Trivante Bloodman, a Harlem product now at Mississippi State who blew up last year after Texas Tech saw him, now that Houston is ranked so highly.

“He has extremely high IQ on the floor and he gets the ball in the right people’s hands in the right situations,” said one Division I assistant coach who has been following Houston since his days at Wings.

At the moment, Houston isn’t fixated on what schools are looking at him. He’s worried about continuing on his current path.

“I’m just playing basketball, trying to get to the Division I level,” Houston said. “I know the opportunity is going to be there. I’ve been a good player all my life. I’m just going to keep working. There is opportunity here. I want to win a JUCO national championship.”

* St. John’s target Rysheed Jordan, a senior point guard ranked among the best at his position in the country from Philadelphia, is taking an official visit to UCLA this weekend and will make a decision next week between Temple, UCLA and the Johnnies.

Karl Towns, the consensus No. 1 sophomore in the nation who attends St. Joseph’s of Metuchen (N.J.), will announce his decision Tuesday at the New Jersey school. The 7-foot dynamo is considering Kentucky, Duke, Florida, Michigan State, N.C. State and North Carolina, among others. He visited Kentucky last weekend. The family is considering having Towns, a standout student with a 4.0 GPA, reclassify into the Class of 2014.

Deandre Bembry, a skilled 6-foot-6 wing from St. Patrick’s in New Jersey, picked St. Joseph’s over Temple.

Eastern Illinois will be in to see McKee/Staten Island combo guard Osa Izevbuwa this weekend. The uncommitted 6-foot-3 senior is also hearing from Marist, Hofstra, Canisius, St. Francis College and Iona, his coach Charlie Donohue said.