Four from Findlay Prep advance to postseason

By Rob Miech

Tuesday, March 17, 2009 | 2:10 a.m.

LEXINGTON, Ky. – Findlay College Prep basketball coach Mike Peck awoke Monday morning, thought about the college basketball postseason tournament and smiled.

The brackets include a few Pilots.

“Four of our guys are in postseason tournaments,” Peck said. “That, to me, makes you smile and feel good. We always kind of knew inside that it’s coming to fruition now.”

The head-to-head matchup of former Pilots takes place tonight, at Memorial Coliseum, when guard DeAndre Liggins of Kentucky might spend some time on the court against center Brice Massamba of UNLV.

Those two helped Findlay go 32-1 last season. The Pilots, in their second season, were 32-0 when they lost by two points to Hargrave Military Academy at the National Prep Championship in the Bronx, N.Y.

Deividas Dulkys and Jorge Gutierrez were integral parts of that team that lost to Hargrave, and both will play in the NCAA tournament this week.

Gutierrez will try to help California beat Maryland on Thursday in Kansas City, Mo., and the winner of that game will likely get high-powered Memphis in the second round.

Dulkys will come off the bench for Florida State in the Seminoles’ game Friday against Wisconsin in Boise, Idaho.

“One thing I’ve always said is, you want to take it further,” Peck said. “We want our guys to qualify and go to Division-I schools. OK, now those guys are getting playing time, not just sitting on the bench in uniforms.

“They’re playing and contributing, and their teams are playing in the postseason. Hopefully, it continues to where they have impacts on those programs.”

Jacques Streeter of Cal State Fullerton did not make either of the top two tournaments, and Curtis Dennis is redshirting at New Mexico, which is in the NIT.

There will be further intrigue Thursday, when Minnesota plays Texas in Greensboro, N.C.

Current Pilots point guard Cory Joseph’s older brother Devoe, a freshman guard, plays for the Gophers.

Avery Bradley, Findlay’s McDonald’s All-American shooting guard who will try to guide it to a title in the National High School Invitational in early April, will play for Texas next fall.

And Tristan Thompson, the powerful 6-foot-9 lefty who left Newark (N.J.) St. Benedict’s for Findlay last month, has committed to the Longhorns for the fall of 2010.

“It’s a small world, this basketball thing,” Peck said. “The degree of separation is probably half of what the normal human is … it’s probably more like three degrees.”

Findlay (30-0) is in its second week at the No. 1 spot in USA Today’s national Super 25 rankings.