Former Flyer Tim Kerr proud of sons at University of Sciences

Garret Kerr had stolen the ball and taken it downcourt, away from the traffic he is most accustomed to on a basketball court. A dunk was on Kerr's mind, until he was in the air and a knee kind of buckled on him.

"I jumped, and I got nothing out of it," Kerr said later outside his locker room. "I don't know what happened. I was going to two-hand it."

Kerr adjusted and turned it into a layup. No surprise to anybody. Turning what he has into something tangible on a scoreboard has been the story of Kerr's astounding career at the University of the Sciences. He was a Division II all-American as a junior. Most consider him this year's favorite for national D-II player of the year.

His Saturday afternoon was like the rest. The 6-foot-4 forward had 32 points and 14 rebounds in a 74-69 victory over Felician College. He has more than 2,000 career points now, a walking double-double. Another statistic is never counted: Kerr must lead D-II in the number of times an opposing coach slumps his shoulders. The other guys play textbook defense for 31 seconds and then a Sciences teammate sends up a shot that falls harmlessly from the rim - except opponents are always in harm's way when Kerr is in the vicinity.

"He thinks every shot is going to miss," Kerr's father mentioned in the stands after another put-back.

The father sits in the stands as unassuming as you'd hope, wearing jeans and a pair of Nikes. A man leaving at halftime hands Tim Kerr his 50-50 ticket, and Kerr promises to get the guy his winnings if the number is called. As the University of the Sciences (16-4) runs its offense, Kerr can hear the play calls and generally tell you where the play is supposed to wind up.

In Tim Kerr's Ontario hometown of Tecumseh, there was really no such thing as organized basketball. Kerr's sport was the national winter sport, as Flyers fans are well aware, remembering the four consecutive years in the '80s when Kerr scored at least 50 goals.

Growing up around here, his sons found their own way. It isn't just Garret on the court for Sciences. Wes Kerr, a year younger, followed Garret to the school, and his story is just as remarkable. Sciences coach Dave Pauley is pushing Wes for all-conference. He does all the glue-guy things, the coach said, including always guarding the opposing team's top perimeter scorer.

Would Pauley have recruited Wes if Garret had not already been there?

"Yeah, that's a tough question," said Wes Kerr, who suffered a sprained ankle in the first half and ended up in a boot. "I wasn't a very good high school player. I came in here almost as a project. Coach Pauley gave me a chance."

"I would hope to say that I would find him," Pauley said. Having Garret, who had just arrived as a freshman, "certainly that helped us. As you know, we have a lot of brothers, 13 or 14 sets in my time."

Also on this year's team is perhaps the greatest named pair of brothers in college hoops history, Flo and Sho Da-Silva, another Jersey pair.

"Once we get one, it makes it comfortable, it makes it easier," said Pauley, who has a third Kerr brother, Tanner, sitting out as a freshman.

Of recruiting Wes, Pauley said: "I saw him at the courts at Stone Harbor the first time. I didn't fly out to Vegas or Orlando. I actually rode my bike a couple of blocks from my in-laws to a Stone Harbor summer league. That's your big-time recruiting story. One of the tires probably needed air."

Getting Garret was the game-changer. Pauley said it was the first time in his 15 years that he got the top target on his recruiting wish list. Garret mostly operated inside as a freshman but kept expanding his range, making him a matchup nightmare.

Asked about Garret Kerr's hitting the big jumper in the Devils' upset win over Drexel in early December, Pauley said: "On a Friday on a fall weekend in September he's down in the gym shooting by himself. That's the time put in. It's that no deposit, no return. He's taking out what he put in."

Tim Kerr once told Pauley that his sons trust their coach implicitly, adding that he didn't know what kind of coach Pauley was, but that was the most important thing to him. Pauley looked a little surprised and maybe even offended, Kerr said. (Pauley can X-and-O with anyone.) "That wasn't my point," Kerr told him. "I'm giving you a bigger compliment."

Tim Kerr has missed two games in four seasons, he said, and both had been rescheduled because of the weather and he couldn't change travel plans.

"I keep an eye on the Flyers and the Sixers and college basketball," the old Flyers star said, then he confessed how life has changed.

"If a really good college basketball game and the Flyers come on, I'd probably watch the college game," Kerr said.

First choice, naturally enough, is a gym off Woodland Avenue.

"I live for this," said the guy most content to be identified as "father of . . ."