Williams, Jordan lead Vaux to win over Strawberry Mansion

Jaleel Williams' attachment to basketball goes way beyond running and jumping and shooting and dishing. Oh, and defending.

Fact is, he fancies himself as the quite the personal instructor/mentor.

Williams, a 5-11, 155-pound senior, is the forever-frisky point guard for Roberts Vaux High. His prize pupil is one of the wings, sophomore Rysheed Jordan, and their relationship goes back a while.

"I was in the seventh grade when I first started playing ball with Rysheed," Williams said. "We've played on rec-league teams, and AAU teams, and we've done lots of workouts together."

Since Jordan, who's tall and athletic and possesses a wing span to die for, is viewed as one of the city's top 10th-graders, Williams was asked whether he saw this coming back in the day.

"Rysheed? Nah," he said. "He was so skinny. All he could do was shoot. Well, I believed in him. But you knew it was going to take a while. You couldn't have expected him to became a really good player [so soon]."

But he has, and it's not outrageous to think Jordan will draw impressive Division I interest. Maybe even advance to the NBA.

"If he does make it, he better give me great tickets," Williams cracked. "I want 'em right behind the bench. He's gotta take care of me."

Williams (25th) and Jordan (28th), who live three blocks apart along Master Street, put on quite a show Tuesday as visiting Vaux downed Strawberry Mansion, 64-55, in Public C.

Williams totaled 19 points, three steals and two assists, and made many more great passes that resulted in trips to the foul line. Jordan posted 28 points, 10 rebounds, five assists and six steals.

Oddly, Jordan scored all of his points in the first 19 minutes, 38 seconds. He tried only one shot from the floor thereafter (a trey) and went 0-for-4 at the line down the stretch, with a pair of blown one-and-ones mixed in.

Flip side: Williams notched 12 of his markers while Jordan was in drought mode. Four came as part of a quick, six-point outburst that enabled the Cougars to re-establish command, at 61-49, after Mansion, exciting its always passionate fans, had stormed within 55-49.

"When we came into the locker room at halftime, 'Sheed said he noticed that I wasn't that involved on offense," Williams said. "He said to keep working hard on defense and he'd make sure to get me the ball. That was what he did."

Hmm. Wonder where Jordan learned that?

From Jaleel Williams, maybe?

"He can play offense with anybody," Williams said. "I'm always telling him to attack the game hard on the defensive side, too. If you get steals, that can lead right to easy points. He's seeing the light."

He continued.

"On offense, I've helped him with learning how to protect the ball, and how to absorb the contact when he gets up there toward the hole [on layups]. He's good at all that stuff now."

Though no one else added more than six points for Vaux, Kyseem Roberts dealt five assists and James Butler notched three rejections for first-year coach Jamie Ross, star guard for Frankford's 1988 Pub champs (college ball at Eastern Kentucky).

For Mansion, now being guided by alumnus/former star Matthew "Moo" Johnson ('06, Gwynedd-Mercy), one of the youngest varsity coaches in Pub annals, wing sniper James Cole (22 points, five treys) reached double figures. Tyrone Madison and Khalil Whitehead halved 12 rebounds. Raekwon Dial recorded four assists, and Cole had as many steals.

"I know James Cole," Williams said. "We talked Monday night. We were saying how we're good friends, but it would be all business on the court. He said, 'You'd better give it your all. 'Cause you know I'll be coming at you the same way.' That's what happened."

Williams, who expects to go the juco route, someday wants to make major bucks with trendsetting hair and skin products.

"Chemistry. That's my best subject," he said.

And yes . . .

"I've got good chemistry with 'Sheed. I've worked on that for a long time." *