May 02, 1996|By Rick Belz | Rick Belz,SUN STAFF
Irving Conwell of Oakland Mills, twice named the Baltimore Sun's Howard County Basketball Player of the Year, accepted a full scholarship with Mount St. Mary's of Emmitsburg yesterday.
"Mount St. Mary's has a good coach, a good mid-level Division I program and I'll have a chance to play as a freshman," Conwell said. "I didn't want to go some place too big where I'd get lost in the shuffle and maybe have to transfer. I couldn't see myself at a bigger school sitting on the bench for a year and fighting for a few minutes of playing time.
"I like the way the Mount St. Mary's coaches recruited me. They treated me like a king. They want me to play point guard. And everyone has told me it is a good academic school."
He said he plans to major in child psychology.
"I'm pleased he's signed with Mount St. Mary's," Oakland Mills basketball coach Dave Appleby said. "It's a good match. He's made a really wise decision."
Mount St. Mary's, a member of the Northeast Conference, won 15 straight games and was 21-8 last season, including a victory over Georgia Tech.
The Mountaineers have recruited two other freshmen, including 6-foot-8 Mike Cook of Centreville, Va., and Greg Harris, a guard from DeMatha. Another recruit is 6-7 Robert Balgac, a Serbian who played at a Canadian school last season.
Conwell, a first-team All-Metro choice, said some of the other schools that had expressed an interest in him included Georgetown, Niagara, Towson, George Washington, Delaware, Georgia and Southern California.
"All my teachers thought I should go to Mount St. Mary's instead of a bigger school, because I'll have smaller classes and be able to establish better relationships with my teachers," he said. "It [picking a college] has been a hassle because my friends think I should go to Georgetown."
This season the 6-4, 175-pound Conwell averaged 25.8 points, 10.3 rebounds, 4.0 steals and 2.5 assists. He shot 60 percent (104-171) at the foul line, 52 percent (174-332) from two-point range and 26.3 percent (30-114) from three-point range.
Conwell broke the school single-game scoring record with 43 points, shooting 13-for-18 from the field. He had 15 rebounds.
He scored 33 points and had 13 rebounds, four assists, three steals and two blocked shots in a 67-66 upset of Forestville in the regional quarterfinals.
For his career Conwell scored 1,628 points, including 1,088 points in two seasons at Oakland Mills and 540 points at Hammond. He led Oakland Mills to the Class 2A state finals his junior year, but the Scorpions lost to Dunbar.
Pub Date: 5/02/96
