By ADAM ZAGORIA
ST. CATHARINES, ONTARIO — Lester Quinones, the 6-foot-5 guard from St. Benedict’s Prep (NJ), is here playing for the Dominican Republic at the FIBA Americas U18 Championship.
He sees it as a great way to grow his game while playing an international competition in front of a slew of high-major college coaches.
“It’s a great experience,” Quinones told me before he went for 31 points on 10-of-15 shooting, including 7-of-12 from deep, in the Dominican’s 108-94 loss to Puerto Rico on Monday. “It’s teaching me to become more of a leader because I have to lead this team. We have a lot of talent on this team but I have to speak up and be more vocal than my high school team or my AAU team. I’m basically the point guard, so I have to tell people where to be and what spots to get to. I have to collect phones at night, all the responsibilities that come with it.”
Yes, that’s right. Part of his responsibility is to collect his teammates cell phones at night so they’re not distracted.
On the court, Quinones is a natural shooter who is also getting to play some point guard here.
On the recruiting front, he listed Syracuse, Georgetown, Pittsburgh, Georgia Tech, Georgia, UCLA and Kansas among the schools recruiting him. Assistants from many of those schools are here, and St. John’s is also expected later in the week.
“It’s just the same schools,” he said. “It’s been pretty quiet because I just put my phone to the side and I’m trying to lock in for the next live period.”
He added: “After the live period, I’m looking at [taking some] unofficials.”
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