BY AARON PATTERSON
DANVILLE — Though he had barely been born when Spike Lee’s “Do The Right Thing” began making noise in the film industry, Raheem Singleton’s high school friends and basketball teammates nicknamed “Radio Raheem” after the film’s character.
The name has stuck, and “Radio” is even stitched on his Monroe Community College basketball warm-up jacket.
But instead of carrying a large boom box as his prized possession, Radio Singleton is more likely to be seen with a basketball in hand. And the Tribunes have without question benefited because of it.
Singleton has led Monroe this season in points (15.2), steals (2.2) and assists (6.2), but his most impressive contributions often do not make it onto the stat sheet.
“Those things are important, but he’s the guy that makes the big shot or makes the big pass or takes the charge or gets the rebound,” Monroe coach Jerry Burns said. “Not only the stats, we’re coming out of a time out, and he’s the guy that makes sure everybody is in the right position. It’s not only the stats that he leads us in, he’s our floor leader. He’s an extension of the coach. He does those things that we need to have done.”
His presence on the floor might have never been more welcomed than in this year’s Region 3 title game against Erie Community College.
The Tribunes (28-2) had lost their previous two meetings with Erie, the second of which Singleton fouled out just five minutes into the second half. And without Monroe’s floor leader able to contribute, Erie’s press became too much to handle.
But in the regional championship game, Singleton remained on the floor, recording a total of 38 minutes and put up 21 points in the Tribunes’ 94-88 win.
“Basically I looked at it like there were some stupid fouls that I picked up,” Singleton said. “So the next game, I just made sure I stayed away from stupid fouls so that I could be on the floor to help my team.
“If it wasn’t for my teammates playing the way they did, everybody stepped up. It was a group effort. If everybody didn’t step up the way they did, it might have been a different story.”
Along with Singleton, four other players on Monroe’s squad enter this year’s tournament averaging double figures in scoring, including Bobby Bell (14.4), Shyrone Carter (14), Aaron Williams (11.2) and Antonio Williams (11.1). Antonio Williams is also averaging just under 11 boards a game.
Now that the Tribunes are back in the NJCAA Division II men’s national basketball tournament, they are hoping to continue that success and return to Rochester, NY as national champions. And if their best wishes come true, it will likely be as a benefit of having Singleton on the floor.
“When he’s not playing, things don’t go as smoothly,” Burns said. “He really gets us into our offense. He’s been recruited by a lot of Division I schools. They keep asking me what is his main strength. He just makes everybody else around him better. When he’s on the floor playing, he makes everyone else around him better and makes us go.”
The Tribunes open the tournament this morning at 9 a.m. against Cincinnati State Technical and Community College.
