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player ready...The terms ”walk-on” and ”mop-up time” are usually found in the same sentence when describing a walk-on college basketball player.
Saturday night, Northern Illinois walk-on Gerry Lorenzi mopped up in his longest playing stint of the season. He hit 4 of 6 shots, grabbed five rebounds and made two steals in 20 minutes to help the Huskies defeat Valparaiso 81-75.
”He had his face on the game program (Huskie Illustrated) last week,”
said NIU coach Brian Hammel. ”He`s turned into an animal. He`ll be a celebrity in a couple weeks.”
No, he`ll still be a walk-on, but a rapidly improving one.
Before Saturday, the 6-foot-4-inch freshman from Peru St. Bede High School had logged all of 63 minutes this season and scored 10 points. But as the season wears on and the nine-man NIU crew wears down, it`s nice to have a Lorenzi or fellow walk-on Tim O`Rourke around to give the starters a breather. Plus, they`re needed in practice.
”He could shoot it,” said Hammel, describing what it was about Lorenzi that caught his eye during walk-on tryouts last fall. ”He has a good feel for the game.”
When the Huskies ran into early foul trouble Saturday, Lorenzi got the call and delivered.
”He understands his role,” said Hammel. ”He`s a good listener. During the pregame talk, he`ll take in that knowledge and try to execute it.
”The thing I like about Gerry is that he doesn`t get beat the same way twice. He makes adjustments. He`s certainly meeting our expectations.”
As are seniors Brian Molis and Mike Hidden, who have caught fire of late. In the last two games, Molis is 19 of 30 from the field and has scored 58 points. After suffering through a midseason shooting slump, Hidden has averaged 15.2 points a game in the last 10 contests.