THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1997, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Tuesday, January 21, 1997 TAG: 9701210355
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY ED MILLER, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: 88 lines
He's not a center, but North Carolina State's Damon Thornton does play one on TV.
Maybe you caught him last month on Home Team Sports, performing opposite the University of Kansas' twin towers, Raef LaFrentz and Scott Pollard. Or on ESPN a couple weeks before that, against Wake Forest's Tim Duncan. Or on NBC the other day, sandwiched between Clemson widebodies Harold Jamison and Tom Wideman.
If not, there's always tonight, when N.C. State faces Duke (9 p.m., WVBT).
Center is not Thornton's natural position, but a role he's been forced to play for the shorthanded - and just plain short - Wolfpack. At 6-foot-8 and 228 pounds, he's a natural power forward. Ultimately, he could even play small forward.
Right now, though, the freshman from Norfolk toils in the pivot. For someone who has been playing organized basketball just three years, it's been quite an introduction to the ACC.
``Damon certainly is being baptized by fire,'' Wolfpack coach Herb Sendek said. ``Ideally it would have been better if we had allowed him more time.
``He's had to go in and battle night after night. But all I know is this: we're a much better team with Damon on the floor.''
Thornton is averaging a modest 6.5 points and 5.9 rebounds per game for the last-place (8-6 overall, 0-5 ACC) Wolfpack. But he hasn't been asked to score, just to provide an athletic presence inside for the guard-oriented Pack.
That, Thornton has been able to do.
``He's a banger,'' forward Danny Strong said. ``A banger and a riser. He really goes up.''
He certainly does. Thornton bid farewell to the local scene last summer by shattering a backboard in his final game in the Hampton Roads Pro-Am league.
It was a fitting farewell for a player who had long turned heads with his raw ability. When Thornton was a sophomore at Granby High, coach Jim Harvey saw him in a pickup game and quickly recognized his potential.
But Thornton never played at Granby. A chronic truant, he was never eligible. He'd often skip school to stay home and watch TV, or sleep.
Feeling that Thornton needed a change, his AAU coach, Marvin Terry, steered him to Atlantic Shores Christian School. Thornton became eligible and squeezed in 1 1/2 seasons under coach Mark Phelps before graduating in June.
Word quickly spread, and by last spring Thornton was being recruited by Syracuse, Wake Forest and N.C. State. He was leaning toward the Wolfpack, but hesitated when coach Les Robinson resigned.
Thornton's confidence was restored when Sendek paid him a visit, only hours after being named the new coach.
``He told me he would love for me to be his first recruit,'' Thornton said. ``I was flattered.''
He was even more flattered when he learned - a few weeks into practice - that he would be starting: ``I kind of thought, `Wow.' It shocked me a little bit.''
Since then, it's been one thrill after another. Thornton traded elbows with Pollard and LaFrentz, the bookend big men from top-ranked Kansas. He went mano-a-mano against Duncan, who is considered the nation's top player.
Thornton had 12 points and 10 rebounds against Kansas in what was a turning-point game, he and Sendek said.
``The night before that game, in the hotel, coach called me in, and showed me clips of LaFrentz and Pollard, and how hard they played,'' Thornton said. ``He wanted me to come out and play that hard the next day. So I did. I just went out and played hard.''
It hasn't been all smooth sailing, however. Because he's constantly matched against larger players, Thornton has often found himself in foul trouble. Occasionally, he's grown frustrated.
That's where Phelps has stepped in. Thornton's former coach is now N.C. State's director of basketball operations. It's an administrative position that doesn't allow him to coach, but does enable him to keep an eye on Thornton.
``A familiar face is always good to have around,'' Thornton said. ``When I'm down sometimes he kind of gets my spirits up. He reminds me where I was two years ago.''
And where he'll be next year - at forward. N.C. State's recruiting class for next year includes two highly regarded big men, 6-10 Ron Kelly of Emory, Texas, and 6-11 Cornelius Williams of Jacksonville, Ala.
Help is on the way. Thornton has only to hang on this year.
Phelps thinks he can.
``Although he's been kind of thrown to the wolves right now, he's going to be better for it,'' Phelps said.
No less an authority than North Carolina's Dean Smith said: ``He's going to be an outstanding player in this league.''
An Emmy winner, even. ILLUSTRATION: Atlantic Shores Christian graduate Damon Thornton is
shocked to be starting in ACC.