But he'd worked too hard and too long to run the risk of having it tarnished, so Gadson went all out last night at Drexel University in the feature attraction of the Public League coaches' 33rd annual all-star classic.

Pride was only part of it. Mixed in, to a healthy degree, was emotion.

"I kept thinking about how it was my last game as a Public League player,'' Gadson said. "That was hittin' me, kinda. When you know this'll be it, you want to make it a good one.''

Consider it done.

Gadson, a 6-6, 210-pound John Bartram swingman bound for Rider, shot 7-for-9 for 14 points as Blue edged White, 84-82. Oh, as part of a solid, all-around effort, he also managed four rebounds, four assists and two steals in his standard 16-minute stint.

"I had about a dozen people here watching me,'' Gadson said, referring to family and friends. "They were telling me they wanted to see all kinds of stuff. Mostly dunks.

"I wasn't paying attention, really. I wanted to play my normal game, with all the smart plays and hustle but none of the crazy stuff. You try something like that, maybe you get hurt and it messes you up all the way into next season.''

Gadson did unfurl one dunk, but it fit quite nicely into the flow-of-the-game category. It occurred in the first half as he posted all but two of his points.

"After that,'' he said, "guys were coming at me. So it just made more sense to look for my teammates. We had some good basketball plays.

"I had that good feeling coming down the stretch. Like it was a regular game, really. I had the normal intensity. You don't want to play that hard then lose.''

Gadson, a crafty lefty, finished the season with a 22-point scoring average for the Braves, who won a special playoff over Roxborough to earn a spot in the PIAA Class AAAA tournament. By then, he was committed to Rider and he would wind up with a second-team spot on the Daily News All-City squad.

"Committing [in mid-January] gave me a lot of relief,'' Gadson said. "Knowing where I was going, I didn't have to lay in bed thinking, 'What's gonna happen?' It took away the stress. I surprised myself by deciding early. I didn't picture doing that. Glad I did, though.''

Kelley stands tall

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