Hawks star freshman Bembry eager to make the team his own

THE GOLDEN hardwoods of Hagan Arena are back in heavy use, with college basketball practice underway.

Before the official start of hoops, Saint Joseph's sophomore DeAndre' Bembry put in his time, getting ready for the season.

One golden day, he sat in a plastic chair facing the right sideline, his massive Afro conspicuous while he practiced his dribble. Right dribble, behind his legs, left dribble and back; his hair never moved, his smile never faltered. The confidence of the wiry wing who took the Atlantic 10 by storm last season was renewed. Bembry is now honing his game.

The coming season should be his coronation. With seniors Langston Galloway, Ronald Roberts Jr. and Halil Kanacevic departing, it is his time, and the Hawks have virtually become his team.

Coach Phil Martelli has compared Bembry to some of the greats who have played for the Hawks.

"I know that when you measure up his freshman year and you compare it to other great players we've had, it's hard to see Jameer [Nelson] having a better freshman year than him," Martelli said.

"If his dream is to go down as one of the all-time greats at St. Joe's, let's get to work, let's get it going. And he has something those other greats don't have - a championship ring and championship net - and he forever will be a member of the 2014 A-10 championship team."

Bembry's path to greatness hasn't been the easiest. The 20-year-old Charlotte, N.C., native grew up in a single-parent household with his mother, Essence, and his brother, Adrian Potts. His mother had three jobs at one point, and Bembry said she did as much as she could just to feed them, even if she had to miss work. Essence Bembry worked in places that included a post office, day cares, airports, doctor's offices and more.

Bembry appreciated his mother's resilience, which led to his drive off the court after and during a sensational freshman campaign. If anything, she's the reason for his pliability, his controlled toughness, whether leading his teammates off the court or flushing a highlight dunk in traffic.

"She worked so hard for us, I feel like I need to work hard for her and my brother, as well," Bembry said.

Luckily, the Bembrys didn't have only themselves to rely on. DeAndre' grew up with a slew of cousins and a huge family atmosphere. When Essence was at work, he relied on Adrian for direct companionship.

In elementary school, he got bullied frequently, he said. He didn't focus enough on his grades into middle school and he couldn't stay focused. So he switched his concentration to athletics, something he and Adrian had been participating in their whole lives in various sports.

He found the Charlotte Nets AAU team and put his energy toward basketball, his newfound joy away from school. Bembry decided to focus his attention on the sport in seventh grade, when he flushed a one-handed dunk, on top of a young opponent.

But that same kid in seventh grade who was dunking on other pre-teens in AAU camps, wasn't doing as well in the classroom. That's when his mother made the tough decision to move DeAndre' and Adrian away from Charlotte and back to her home state of New Jersey.

At the end of his sophomore year at Rocky River High in North Carolina, the family moved back to the Mid-Atlantic region.

After averaging 17 points and 9.3 rebounds as a sophomore, Bembry was set to attend Carteret (N.J.) High with his brother before his uncle, Gary Springer - who played ball at Iona and was drafted by the Sixers in 1984 - talked to Bembry's mother. DeAndre' ended up attending The Patrick School in Elizabeth, N.J., the successor to the famous St. Patrick High School that produced, among others, Hornets forward Michael Kidd-Gilchrist and Cavaliers star guard Kyrie Irving.

"We moved back to New Jersey because it was just time," Essence Bembry said. "We needed to start over. We flew up and came to an open gym and jumped in, and I thought it was just going to be for a day. But the next day we were looking for him . . . One coach told him this was his team if he wanted it."

Bembry's grades improved enough for him to become a college-ready player off the court, and his skills matured on the court. The 6-6, 200-pounder was a first-team all-state selection and participated in the 2013 Jordan Brand Classic All-Star Game. His stock was rising on a more established team and program in the wider New York market and against some of the country's best competition.

In a way, Martelli credits Essence for her son committing to the Hawks. Without his mother's push, the talented forward might not be in the area.

"I know quite a bit and I know the sacrifices his mother made to bring him to New Jersey," Martelli said. "In my conversations with her, he was identified as a good player but if he stayed in Charlotte, he would not be a college-ready student or challenged in basketball. He's clearly a product of his mother. And he's at SJU because of his mother. It was evident from the first phone call that the key player was his mom."

Now, as last season's Big 5 Rookie of the Year sprints toward his second season with the Hawks, much has changed about Bembry. Now he is a leader of a championship club, that A-10 tourney title a piece of history he can cling to.

Bembry, who averaged 12.1 points and 4.5 rebounds as a freshman at St. Joe's, said he always has thought he was a leader, but he didn't show it as much last season, with Galloway, Roberts and Kanacevic on the team. He has built a better relationship with Martelli and said he talks to him "like a brother."

He said he doesn't care how much he scores or his about personal accolades. He just wants to continue the level of success St. Joe's has had since he arrived. He just wants to win.

"I just always have this type of energy. This boost. I make sure I put my all into [it]," Bembry said. "Since my mom put her all into when I was being raised, I feel like that's how I am on the court. Every possession, every play, that's how you have to be for your team, for your on-court family."

Bembry continued: "I could score 20 or 40 points and [if] we're losing, it doesn't matter."

But as far as Essence Bembry is concerned, she's just happy her son made it to college.

"I'm very proud, we are very proud; it was a great surprise to me," she said. "For him to do the things he did and then go to Philly and and keep a level head, I don't know how he stays so calm. I'd be bouncing off the wall. My son is in college. That's the biggest thing. We fought a lot with him in school and we had a lot of arguments about schoolwork. But to say that my son is in college, that's major.

"I'm very proud."