CHESTNUT HILL – Minuteman Raheim Lamb was already in the game, so he didn’t notice when Jermaine Watson walked over to the scorer’s table early in the first half of Saturday’s contest at Boston College. But when Watson stepped on the floor and was assigned to guard him, it made it easier for Lamb to settle in to his familiar surroundings.
“That’s my man. I love that dude,” said Lamb, who lives about five minutes from BC’s Conte Forum and played with Watson in the Boston Athletic Basketball Club’s (BABC) AAU (Amateur Athletic Union) program for a few years, not to mention on the street courts of Beantown. “I knew he was going to go to BC. And it was great just playing out there, playing 1-on-1 with him.”
Lamb scored a career-high 12 points, including a violent baseline jam with 8:28 left to play to cut the BC lead to five at 56-51. The sophomore also grabbed seven rebounds and blocked one shot in 23 minutes.
Watson only played 12 minutes and scored three points, but the kid from Roxbury faces a tougher challenge than Lamb in cracking his team’s starting lineup, with All-America candidates Troy Bell and Ryan Sidney in the Eagle backcourt.
Still, both found the time to try to psyche each other out.
“I was out there talking trash, but that’s part of the game, just having fun,” Lamb said. “That’s how he is too. Actually, after the game he told me to call him.”
It was almost a perfect night. The only unfavorable condition was the 80-78 losing count.
“All my family was here, this is hometown for me, so I was up for the game from the beginning,” said Lamb, whose 12 points all came in the second half. “I was only able to have 12 tickets, but I had a lot [more family members] who wanted to come.
Commander-in-Chief
Anthony Anderson has done more than solidify his spot in the UMass starting backcourt. He’s already gained the respect of his elders.
“I already call Anthony the Allen Iverson of our squad,” said Kitwana Rhymer, the fifth-year senior. “He’s the commander. I mean, I may be one of the captains, but I call him the full-court general. Coach is coach. But Anthony is the one out there who is supposed to run us.”
Including Saturday’s contest, in which he had a career-high 19 points (14 in the second half), Anderson now has only nine turnovers in six games. To that, he has 24 assists, which is a team high.
“He has a tremendous understanding of the game, just naturally,” said Head Coach Steve Lappas on the Lynn, Mass. native. “He just has a great feel for the game. And they know he has a great feel. You can just tell by the way he carries himself out there. He’s important to this team.”
Rival arrival
Connecticut is up next for UMass, as the Huskies travel to the Mullins Center Tuesday night (ESPN, 9 p.m.) for the sixth MassMutual “U” Game. After Saturday night’s 80-44 win over Northeastern, UConn now stands at 4-1, with its other victories coming over Vanderbilt (84-71), New Hampshire (110-58) and George Washington (84-76). The Huskies lost to Maryland 77-65 last Monday.
