Braxton, Little excel in classroom as well as on court
Saleem Little and Keith Braxton are tall, rangy seniors who excel for two of South Jersey's top basketball teams. Little is averaging 17.4 points and 11.5 rebounds for a Paulsboro team with a 12-1 record and the inside track on the program's third South Jersey Group 1 title in the athlete's four varsity seasons.
Saleem Little and Keith Braxton are tall, rangy seniors who excel for two of South Jersey's top basketball teams.
Little is averaging 17.4 points and 11.5 rebounds for a Paulsboro team with a 12-1 record and the inside track on the program's third South Jersey Group 1 title in the athlete's four varsity seasons.
Braxton is averaging 19.5 points and 9.1 rebounds while shooting better than 70 percent from the field for a Delsea team with an 11-3 record and a nine-game winning streak. The Crusaders are in hot pursuit of the program's second consecutive South Jersey Group 3 title.
The 6-foot-4 Little and 6-foot-3 Braxton have similar styles. They are versatile players who can score from the perimeter and in the paint, and they are clever passers and dependable defenders.
They also are quiet leaders who rarely get rattled in the heat of competition. They play with passion but never seem to let their emotions get the best of them.
Maybe that's because for all their athletic ability, Little and Braxton are students first and basketball players second.
"I tell people all the time that Saleem is a better student and person than he is a player," Paulsboro coach Sean Collins said.
Delsea coach Tom Freeman feels the same way about Braxton.
"The thing I like most about Keith is I can tell people he is a better student than he is a basketball player," Freeman said. "Also his personality and way he carries himself off the court just makes people love him more."
For all their similarities on the court, the two athletes are more tightly bound by stellar work in the classroom and their ironclad commitment to their academic success.
Little ranks No. 1 in his class at Paulsboro. He said his last B was in his first marking period as a first grader. He's earned nothing but A's since then.
Braxton has a 4.0 grade-point average. He has maintained his lofty academic standards while taking three advanced placement courses, in Spanish, history, and physics.
"Keith Braxton is one of the most gifted academic students I am teaching this year," Delsea physics teacher Frank McCulley said in an e-mail. "He has incredible mathematical talents and the ability to see physical connections and science with ease.
"He picks up concepts very quickly and he makes everything he does look so easy and effortless."
Braxton said the "effortless" part might be a bit of a stretch.
"It's hard work," Braxton said of his academic success. "I always work hard in class, pay attention, make sure I'm getting the material I need.
"It's important to me."
Braxton said physics is his favorite subject.
"Basically, physics is everything, how everything works," Braxton said. "It's really interesting."
Little leans toward the humanities in his favorite subjects. He said he's "not that good in science" - although he still aces those courses - and prefers English.
"I'm a good writer," Little said.
Both athletes credit their families with inspiring them to excel in the classroom.
"It's always been that way for me," Braxton said. "Even when I was little, I couldn't play video games or really do anything until I got my homework done.
"I'm used to it now. I just take care of schoolwork, then I worry about other things."
Little said schoolwork always has been another kind of competition for him.
"My brothers and sisters were good students and I always wanted to do better than them," Little said.
Little also is motivated by a sign at a prime parking spot outside his high school that reads: "Reserved for Valedictorian Saleem Little."
"Our superintendent had them put that up this year," Little said. "I want to keep that. It's a pride thing."
Collins and Freeman have deep, talented squads that compete at the highest levels of their respective conferences and groups. And the coaches say the foundation of their programs are the seniors who set an example for their teammates on the court and off.
"Having a true student-athlete be the cornerstone of your program has made my job a lot easier," Collins said of Little's influence on the Paulsboro program.
Braxton and Little both hope to continue their basketball careers in college. Braxton has visited NCAA Division II programs such as Wilmington and Chestnut Hill. Little has drawn recruiting interest from schools at that level as well.
They both are focused on finishing their senior seasons with a flourish, especially in the state tournament.
But they both plan to continue with their most impressive achievement of all: to play sensational basketball while keeping their athletic careers in perspective.
"Basketball can only take you so far," Braxton said. "But as long as you have an education, you can go as far as you want."