When the 2006-07 season was about to tip-off, Towson coach Pat Kennedy mentioned Jonathan Pease as a player who “could be huge for us.”
Pease was coming off his fourth surgery on the same knee and Kennedy was excited about inserting the energetic, 6-foot-6 junior forward in the regular rotation.
“Give me ten of those guys because he plays his heart out all the time,” Kennedy said.
And now, Pease is in an unfamiliar role ? playing all the time.
“I didn?t realize how long the season was,” said Pease, who went to Chopticon High in St. Mary?s County.
Pease is no longer in the jump-shooting role that he was featured in his sophomore year, when he averaged 9.3 points per game. But he is a very important part to the Towson (9-10) puzzle, averaging 4.6 points a night.
“He brings the intangibles. If you look across at any good team ? there?s that one guy that does everything,” said senior guard and leading scorer Gary Neal. “That?s what Jon Pease does, he gives us energy.”
He has made just six starts in the team?s 14 games, but has seen his playing time increase lately, mainly due to his effort.
“Now that we have Tommy [Breaux] in there, [who is someone] that can block shots ? and Jonathan Pease in there making hustle plays, we?ll keep pressuring [the opposition] defensively,” Kennedy said.
All four of the surgeries have been on Pease?s right knee. And he said there is a chance for arthritis when he gets older. While working back from the surgeries to his meniscus, Pease was battling physical and mental hurdles.
“You?re always questioning yourself whether it would hold up or not,” he said. “But now it?s all starting to come back mentally, where I can trust my self to come back and do what I used to do.”
He may have played his best game Saturday, taking charges, grabbing loose balls and scoring 11 points in a 75-61 win over UNC-Wilmington.
Pease is not the team?s go-to guy for three point shots, but he has drained some clutch ones this season. Last Monday at Loyola, he hit a long-range jumper late in the game to extend a Tigers advantage in the eventual 70-62 win. He was 1-for-2 from long range Saturday. But he realizes his value now comes in the uplifting attitude he brings to the court.
“I could go out and do the little things and be an energy guy,” Pease said. “And everyone else can feed off that.”
