Duquesne shooting victim appears at practice

Monday, October 30th 2006, 10:24 pm

By: News On 6

PITTSBURGH (AP) Sam Ashaolu, the most seriously injured of the five Duquesne University basketball players shot last month, made a surprise visit to practice Monday night and showed he still has his jump shot.

Ashaolu, who nearly died last month following on-campus shootings that ravaged the Dukes' rebuilding team, walked the block from Mercy Hospital to watch practice, hug teammates, kid them about good plays and bad and stand in a post-practice meeting.

``Get out there, Sam!'' neuropsychologist Hilly Rubinsky said to Ashaolu as the 6â€™ 7â€ power forward hesitated for a moment before joining his teammates in a circle at midcourt, each clasping the hands of the person beside him. ``You're part of this team.''

Some players almost did a double take when Ashaolu, from suburban Toronto, walked in to their practice gym unannounced with his younger brother, Olu, and a family friend.

``I was shocked to see him there,'' coach Ron Everhart said. ``What an uplifting and motivating experience to have him there. We responded with the best practice we've had all year. I was really excited to see Sam sitting there. If it was as motivating for our guys as it was for me, I can imagine how excited they were to get going.''

After practice ended, Ashaolu again surprised his coach during an informal shooting session, wearing a Duquesne sweat shirt with his #5 on the sleeve and a pair of jeans. He hit a succession of shots beyond the 3 point line, less than a month after the 23 year-old, who is recovering from two bullet wounds to the head, was released from intensive care.

``I've got my stroke back,'' he said, laughing after hitting several shots. ``I had to get it back.''

As he did so, Olu, a highly recruited high school star in Texas, kept feeding him the ball. Olu Ashaolu is visiting his brother for the first time since the September 17th shootings injured Ashaolu and four teammates, leaving lingering injuries to all but one of them.

The others, Shawn James (foot), Stuard Baldonado (back, left arm) and guard Kojo Mensah (left arm), received physical therapy for their injuries at courtside during practice. James showed Ashaolu where the bullet in his left foot remains lodged, and Mensah still wears a brace on the arm where he was shot.

Ashaolu's doctors are trying to temper their enthusiasm about his rapid progress, but are finding it difficult considering he spent nearly a month in a hospital bed with little activity other than walking.

``I've been in rehabilitation for the last 20 years, and only one other patient I have seen recover as fast in the first six weeks,'' said Rubinsky, who spoke to the AP only after family members agreed he could do so. ``So it's very positive. We hope he continues on the same kind of recovery curve. In this business, nothing is for sure, so to see this kind of progress, it predicts he's going to make more progress. But how soon and how much, no one really knows at this point.''

Rubinsky, who once had a student named Michael Jordan take a class he taught at the University of North Carolina, said it was obvious how much being back in a basketball setting motivated Ashaolu.

Ashaolu thumbed through an NBA preseason magazine, talking and laughing with teammates whenever one came close. His speech has improved remarkably in only a few weeks, and friends said his memory is gradually recovering too. And when he spotted several female students riding stationary bicycles in an adjacent weight room, he walked over to talk to them.

Doctors still aren't certain if Ashaolu can attend college again, or play basketball, but Everhart couldn't believe how a man who was so seriously injured in September could shoot a basketball so well in October.

``The only thing you can say is his progress has been miraculous,'' Everhart said.

Ashaolu may be released from Mercy Hospital as early as this weekend and will have live-in help as he continues his rehabilitation and recovery. Although one bullet was removed September 25th after it surfaced behind Ashaolu's ear, he still has fragments of another bullet in his head.

Duquesne, which has only three returning players from the team that went 3-24 last season under former coach Danny Nee, opens its season against Youngstown State on November 13th.

The shootings drew national attention to a school that has had one winning season in 20 years and affected nearly half of the 10 new players who came to Duquesne after Everhart's hiring in March.

Also Monday, Everhart offered sympathy and support in a phone call with Arkansas-Fort Smith coach Josh Newman, who had a freshman guard, Terrist Parramore, critically shot in the head and chest during a Halloween party Saturday night. Newman, like the Duquesne coach, was hired earlier this year. Arkansas-Fort Smith won the NJCAA Division I title last season.