These are good times for Gil Goodrich.
The Bowie State men’s basketball team is coming off its first two-game losing streak of the season. Yet the Bulldogs’ senior guard had fans lined up after he had 30 points — including eight 3-pointers — and four assists in last weekend’s 83-79 road loss to Livingstone.
“People were coming up to him after the game, shaking his hand,” said Bulldogs coach Luke D’Alessio. “They call him, ‘The Truth.’”
The truth is, this is not only Goodrich’s last college season. It’s probably his last chance, and he’s making the most of it.
Goodrich is currently Division II’s second-leading scorer at 27.3 points a game. He shoots 44 percent from three-point range and averages 5.9 assists. After he scored 52 points against Mansfield, he started to receive interest from NBA scouts. D’Alessio said the Portland Trail Blazers are looking at him.
Prior to this season two of his most notable achievements were being a white starting point guard at Howard and costing the Bison the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference title as a freshman after being suspended for the first half of the conference tournament final for punching a Delaware State player in the groin.
“It’s all behind me,” Goodrich said. “I had a lot of things that happened in the past — not that I regret because it makes you a stronger person — but it was stuff in my life that I wasn’t doing right.”
Grades and differences with coaches were also a problem for the Linthicum, Md., native and Newport Prep alum. He left Howard after one season and went to Panola Junior College and Lamar University in Texas before returning to the Baltimore-Washington area last year.
Right before his return, his grandfather died.
“I was real close with him and that changed my direction in life, to be honest,” said Goodrich. “The extra stuff I was doing off the court, partying and staying out late, I quit doing all that stuff and I focused on my main task, and that was to play basketball and graduate.”
These days Goodrich spends more time with his parents and those who help him to stay on the right course. He’s keeping his sights set on winning the Central Intercollegiate Athletic Association player of the year award and adding 10-15 pounds of muscle to his 5-foot-10, 165-pound frame in hopes of making the jump to the next level.
“I didn’t expect this,” Goodrich said. “All my life my dreams have been to be in the NBA, everybody’s is. I knew it was far-fetched — my height and my weight — but I worked real hard over the summer. I knew overseas would definitely be an option, but the NBA, I didn’t really think it was going to be an option yet.”
Virginia Union (10-1, 7-1 CIAA) at Bowie State (9-5, 5-5)
» When: Tonight, 7:30
» Where: James Gymnasium, Bowie State
