By: Tommy Breslin
Feature Staff
Twitter: @Breslin__
Photo By: Dan Luner
The journey of Howard Blake’s basketball career has not always been the easiest for him. His career doesn’t just show people the type of player he has become but it has shown people his passion and desire for the game.
Blake was born and raised from Newark, Del. He fell in love with basketball ever since he was a little kid. He comes from a basketball family and he was raised by people who had a heart for basketball. Blake’s mother grew up with five brothers who all went on to play college basketball. Her youngest brother, Gary Lumpkin, influenced Blake the most when it came to basketball.
Lumpkin was a big time high school basketball star at William Penn in Delaware where he led his team to a state championship in 1994. He was honored first-team all state twice in high school and was recently inducted into the Delaware basketball hall of fame. Lumpkin went onto play college basketball at Xavier University in Ohio where he was a four-year starting guard and had an outstanding college career. He ranks 16th all time in scoring at Xavier and went on to play professionally in Finland for a few years after college.
Blake would take road trips to Ohio with his family to watch his uncle play basketball. His uncle’s game made him want to improve his game and it influenced him to become the best player he could be.
“Going down to Ohio to watch my uncle play was what really made me want to pick up a basketball and keep playing,” Blake said, “it seemed that I was always around the game my whole life.”
Blake decided to stick to playing basketball when he got into high school. He attended Sanford high school in Hockessin, Del. His first three years of high school he split time playing junior varsity and varsity and had a very little role on the court.
“My high school career wasn’t that spectacular. I wasn’t a star player and I didn’t really get any minutes. I basically sat the bench all four years,” Blake said.
Blake says his high school team his junior and senior year was very talented with four or five guys that went onto to play Division I or Division II basketball. He stuck with the team no matter the type of minutes he was playing and played more of a leadership role as an upperclassman. Blake finished his high school basketball career by winning back-to-back state championships his junior and senior season.
After high school was over Blake decided to pursue an education at Cabrini College and it was whether or not he wanted to continue his basketball career at Cabrini. The basketball program never recruited Blake in high school and he didn’t know anything about the program when he first got to Cabrini. He decided that he didn’t want his basketball career to end just yet. His freshman year at Cabrini, Blake went out for the college basketball team.
“At Cabrini I didn’t know much about the basketball program. I didn’t know they were that good,” Blake said, “I just wanted a chance to play again because I didn’t get much playing time in high school. I just felt like I could enhance my game a lot more and you don’t get these years back.”
Blake’s basketball career didn’t seem promising after he was cut from the team on the last day of tryouts his freshman year. It was a tough pill to swallow for Blake when the year he was cut the team that made a historic run to the Division III national championship game. He never wanted basketball to end after being cut so all of his passion for the game made him come back his sophomore year and try out for the team again.
“I knew I wasn’t finished. Getting cut for some people may seem like the end of the world and in a way for me it was but it made me want to get even better,” Blake said, “I felt like I was good enough to make the team or I could have done many things better to make the team.”
Blake says the entire offseason after being cut he worked as hard as he could and did whatever to get on the team for his sophomore season. His offseason commitment and hard work paid off in the end where he found himself a roster spot the next season.
Blake is now a senior at Cabrini and the last three seasons on the team have been similar to his high school playing days. His sophomore and junior year he played as a bench player just averaging less than 5 minutes per game and averaged just below 3 points per game.
It was after Blake’s junior season when the head coach Marcus Kahn left the school to go coach at Mary Washington University in Virginia. The team also graduated five seniors that year who all played minutes before Blake. The assistant head coach, Tim McDonald was promoted as the new head coach for Cabrini after Kahn left.
Blake continued seeing time on the bench for the start of his senior season under McDonald. The team has a talented young freshman guard Ivan Robinson to go along with All-American guard Aaron Walton-Moss. McDonald at the start of the season knew he had talent and he praised Blake as being the leader of this team.
“Howard’s one of those guys for us that is always getting our guys ready for our open gyms and workouts,” McDonald said, “he’s always been the guy in the weight room working with our strength and conditioning coach.”
Freshman standout Ivan Robinson suffered a torn ACL just four games into the season and the team already began the season with out another key player Deryl Bagwell. With all the injuries the team has suffered this season it gave Blake an opportunity to get more minutes.
Blake’s senior season has been nothing but great for a player whose role for the last three years was a bench player. He began to find his game with the more minutes he was getting and has played consistently well for the team. Playing limited minutes in high school and being cut from the Cabrini basketball team his freshman year now is having a season to remember.
Jason Williams, manager of the Cabrini basketball team, has been very close friends with Blake throughout college and is happy to see him play so well his senior season.
“Its great to see that Howard is having a successful season this year,” Williams said, “for someone who works so hard on and off the court after being cut his freshman year and not playing much sophomore and junior year to now starting his senior year is great to see all the hard work pay off on and off the court.”
Blake this season has started the last six games for the Cavaliers and is averaging in double figures in 20.7 minutes per game. He has become a key player for Cabrini this season and his team is relying on him now to keep his strong play up. As the season gets closer to playoff time he looks to help lead his team to a sixth straight CSAC conference championship.
“The strongest aspect about Howard’s game is his leadership,” Williams said, “there are times where Howard doesn’t get the time he may deserve but whether he’s playing or not he has always been a positive leader for the team.”
#CABRINISPORTSCOMM 