In transition

SHREVEPORT -- A college freshman’s sweet shot and work ethic has taken him from his driveway on Prioux Street in New Iberia to Shreveport and soon to some of the major college basketball arenas in Division I.

Neighbors and motorists driving over the years saw a young David Perez shooting hoops in front of his home starting at age 4. Hour after hour he’d dribble, shoot and the ball would kiss the glass and go in or swish the net.

Now Perez practices at Centenary College with the Gents, who open their 2008-09 season Saturday on the road against Mississippi State. The nonconference game will be televised on ESPN, just like the next game three days later on the road against Baylor.

It’s the beginning of a college career for the player who was named last season’s Best of the Teche Large School Most Valuable Player by The Daily Iberian. It’s a tribute to his dedication to academics and sports, his proud parents and his high school coach who went the extra mile to help find a college for Perez.

The 19-year-old Catholic High School graduate has an academic scholarship and has been working hard on the hardwood to add a basketball scholarship to the mix at Centenary.

David and Ann Fowler Perez, his parents, plan to attend his first collegiate game. The weekend game fits just right for his mother, a teacher at North Street Elementary School.

“Oh, I can’t wait,” she said recently, noting Saturdays are the only days she can get away to watch one of her son’s games because she doesn’t want to miss a day of class going into her 20th year of teaching in January.

The couple is looking forward to other notable dates on the schedule, she said, such as back-to-back weekend games in the LSU Men’s Classic.

His parents can relate to his student/athlete experience. Both played collegiate sports �” David in baseball at McNeese State University after a career at New Iberia Senior High and Ann in basketball at Hines Junior College in Raymond, Miss., after graduating from NISH. Athletic endeavors are a staple of the family, which includes daughter Kelley Perez, who excels at several sports and has emerged as one of the area’s top soccer players her age.

“Our family’s always been around sports,” said Perez’s father David Perez, a UPS driver since 1986.

“I told him this probably would be the hardest thing he’s done in his life. I went to college. My wife went to college. He has to adjust to the speed of the game and the size of the athletes. He’s doing pretty good. It’s taking some time but I think he’ll adjust to college life.”

The Perezes are pulling for their son to succeed in class and on the court. He has earned the chance, they said, and his prep coaches prepared him well.

“You know, when Dave dreams, he dreams big. People have to realize when you dream big you have to have a work ethic to go with it. I’ve never seen a kid work as hard as he has. He’s worked so hard for all the things he’s gotten,” his mother said.

Her son was a multi-sport athlete who grew up with a lively and accurate pitching arm on the diamond and the deadly offensive game in basketball.

“He loved all sports,” his mother said. “I always said whoever got David first was going to get the best of him. He was so talented in everything. He stuck with basketball.”

Perez remembers that decision well.

“Well, one summer, right before baseball started, an AAU team from Baton Rouge wanted me to play basketball for them. I decided to go travel with them instead,” he said. “I like it (basketball) but sometimes I regret it because I miss baseball a lot, too.”

The freshman’s father said, “Coming up, Dave played different sports. I always thought he’d be a baseball player. In time, we could see that his desire was more for basketball and he’s getting better and better each year. I think it’s a dream come true for him.”

First-year Centenary head basketball coach Greg Gary appreciates that the 6-foot-3 Perez chose basketball and the Gents. Gary welcomed four new players before this season -- Perez and freshman Brandon Harris, a transfer from Duquesne University, and junior college players Gary Redus III and Roman Tubnar, who both played one season at Marion Military Institute in Alabama.

They join a team led by junior guard Chase Adams, senior forward Lance Hill and senior guard Nick Stallings.

“David’s been great. He’s such a hard worker,” Gary said before crediting Perez’s high school coach Billy Dreher.

“Coach Dreher has done a good job. He (Perez) comes in and knows how to play and is a very good shooter. We’re excited to have him,” he said. “We’re not very deep this year so everybody’s going to see minutes. David shoots the ball well. What we’re going to do offensively �- he’s going to get his opportunity. No question.”

“I want to get a decent amount of playing time, do good so I can continue to get playing time. I also want to help our team win a conference championship this year,” Perez said.

The hardest part of the preseason was adjusting to the rigors of college basketball, coach and player said.

“It’s always hard to come in as a freshman. It’s just the pace of college is much harder than high school,” Gary said early in the preseason. “The first couple of weeks their legs will start coming back. Right now it’s pretty hard on them, especially for freshmen because they’ve never been through a preseason of weightlifting and conditioning.”

Perez felt the difference at the time.

“It’s a lot tougher than high school but I’m getting used to it. It’s really fun,” he said, particularly remembering 3 1/2-mile runs in the nearby hills and getting his mile time under the mandated 5:15. He did a 5-flat. “I’m playing with a lot of kids older than me with more experience but they’re teaching me as we go and it’s helping a lot.”

What’s the best part of his game?

“I’d say shooting, mostly. I’ve always been more of a shooter than anything else. I’m trying to work on a more complete game right now,” he said during the grind of preseason.

His shooting prowess can be traced back to those days on the driveway.

“Every day after school I’d go shoot as much as I could since I was about 4. Sometimes I’d stay out until night and I’d have to go in,” he said.

The shooting sessions showed in high school, where he hit 40 percent of his 3-point field goal attempts and averaged 13.6 points and four rebounds in 2007-08. His last prep season perhaps was his toughest to deal with.

“He has overcome injuries and tragedy. His senior year was a rollercoaster and for him to come out on top is just so telling on his work ethic as an athlete,” his mother said.

The injury came after a tragedy. The younger Perez was one of three passengers in a pickup truck traveling Oct. 29, 2007, on U.S. 90 from Patterson to New Iberia following a Catholic High School volleyball match against the Lumberjills.

According to state police, the pickup truck left the highway, hit a median and flipped several times, a sequence during which Blake Dartez, 17, of New Iberia, was ejected and killed. Perez and two other CHS students in the wrecked vehicle suffered injuries, were hospitalized and released the next day.

The healing process, the mental part, is taking longer than it took to recover from a torn ligament in his ankle, an injury that happened midway through his final prep season. The senior guard missed several games and the Perez-less Panthers fell to 6-8.

Then the sharpshooter returned to the lineup and CHS won 15 of 18 games to claim the District 6-3A title. The Panthers reached the Top 28 for the first time in the program’s history and boasted two players on the Best of the Teche Large School Boys Basketball Team -- Eric Young and Perez.

After graduation, Perez, who was a first-team Best of the Teche choice as a junior, visited numerous Division III schools but showed little enthusiasm, Ann Perez said. She was puzzled because she knew he wanted to play college basketball.

“We visited all these schools, Division III, and he wasn’t interested,” she said.

She learned her son yearned to compete in Division I. It was a dream of his, she said.

Then Dreher, who followed Nolan Theriot as Perez’s coach at CHS, intervened. Dreher contacted Gary.

“We were very much aware of him and excited to get the opportunity to get him. His coach was very good and helped an awful lot,” Gary said. “His (Perez’s) dad came with him and visited the place. We were able to talk then and get a feel for what exactly we have to offer and how we do things. It was a great fit.”

Ann Perez agreed and said, “It was a nice fit for Dave -- a Christian school, a very successful graduation rate and a Catholic church not too far away. Athletics came last, which was so perfect -- God, education and basketball. It was just a nice fit,” she said.

“I always wanted to play D-1. When I got hurt last year, I thought I wouldn’t get the chance. Everything’s coming together and it’s real nice up here,” Perez said.