REACHING a NEW LEVEL

There is more to playing basketball than what you see on Sports Center.

Coach Chris Nordquist of Rio Mesa High has tried to instill that in his players’ minds since taking over the Spartan boys’ program last season.

Tunde Alonge received the message.

Alonge, a 6-foot-3 1/2, 175-pound senior swingman, was the most improved player on the Rio Mesa team this season before sustaining a hairline fracture to a bone in his left hand Wednesday that will sideline him for the next two to four weeks.

Not only has Alonge scored more points, hit more three-point shots and thrown down more dunks this season, but his all-around skills have developed greatly since he averaged 10.5 points and 7.5 rebounds last season.

“He’s solid in every facet of the game,” Nordquist said of Alonge. “He’s not great, but he doesn’t have any real deficiencies. He’s good off the dribble with both hands. He can hit the outside shot from time to time. He can handle the ball. He can rebound and run the floor. He’s gotten much better at playing position defense and he sees the floor well.

“I think he has the potential to play at the next level.”

Alonge, whose father and mother are from Nigeria, always figured he could play at the NCAA Division I level. But Nordquist, a former assistant at New Mexico State, wasn’t convinced of that until Alonge improved greatly last summer while playing in several basketball camps.

“I really think he could be a big-time defensive player at the next level,” Nordquist said. “I don’t think he’s big-time, big-time, but he could play at a lower-level Division I program or at the Division II or NAIA level.”

That likely would occur after Alonge hones his skills at a junior college for two years. Although his athleticism is abundant, Alonge is young--he turned 17 in November--with raw ability.

“He’s one of those kids that you wish you could have for another year,” Nordquist said. “I know a lot of coaches say that about players, but Tunde is just starting to really learn how to play the game.”

Alonge has modest averages of 11.9 points, 7.6 rebounds, 3.1 assists and 2.0 blocked shots per game for a Rio Mesa team that is 9-8 overall and tied with Oxnard for first place in the Pacific View League. But every once in awhile he makes plays that most high school players can’t.

Take a Pacific View League game Wednesday against Camarillo in which he figures he injured his hand while slapping at a ball that was in the grasp of the Scorpions’ Jared Jungwirth.

Foul trouble kept Alonge on the bench for most of the first half, but he wooed the crowd several times upon his return in the second half.

First, he gunned a Magic Johnson-like pass from the top of the key to a wide-open John McBride underneath the basket for an easy layup.

Then, he threw down a right-handed jam that displayed his superior leaping ability.

A reverse layup followed after he’d blown by a defender while driving the left baseline.

“Playing in those camps made me better,” said Alonge, who lives with his mother Imo Uduma in Oxnard. “I’m making better decisions this [season]. I’m not turning the ball over as much.”

When he does commit turnovers, he’s better at dealing with them.

“In past seasons, he would really get down on himself when he made a mistake,” Nordquist said. “He’d make a mistake and that would carry over to the next play and the play after that.”

Alonge agreed.

“I would worry about [the mistake] and be in misery until the next day,” he said. “After I make a mistake now, it’s in the past. I just try to make a better decision the next play.”

Alonge’s improvement at dealing with mistakes is one example of his maturation as a player. Others are his willingness to let the game come to him and a reduction in the number of fouls he commits.

“He had a tendency to reach a lot in the past and pick up those silly fouls,” Nordquist said. “But he’s getting much better at playing position defense, at using his feet to put himself in the proper position on the floor.”

Alonge’s passion for basketball hasn’t changed. He takes the game seriously and plays with a lot of emotion.

“He’s the kind of player who yells or grunts and that can get the other players going,” Camarillo Coach Mike Prewitt said. “He looks like he enjoys playing the game and that’s always a big plus.”

Alonge, who finished second in the high jump and triple jump in the Pacific View League track and field championships last year, started playing organized basketball when he was in the fifth grade.

He was a 5-7, 130-pound point guard on Rio Mesa’s freshman team during his first high school season, but has grown about three inches a year since then.

The added height and increased muscle that has come with it have greatly benefited Alonge on the basketball court, but it hasn’t affected his actions off it. He is a solid student--he has a 2.5 grade-point average in college prep courses--who treats his elders with respect.

“He’s a yes-sir, no-sir, type of kid,” Nordquist said. “He’s very easy to talk to and approach.”

Uduma describes her son as very outgoing around his friends, but somewhat soft-spoken around authority figures.

“He loves to laugh and joke with his friends,” she said. “But he can be quiet around adults. That’s part of the way he treats them with respect.”

Alonge respects Nordquist immensely and has bought into his emphasis on becoming a better all-around player.

Yet the dunk remains his favorite play in basketball, just like it is on Sports Center.