MC&S nips MLK in battle of city unbeatens

FA'TEEM GLENN figures he's the luckiest high school point guard in the city.

And his thoughts are not going to change even though a "1" can now be found on the right side of the hyphen in Martin Luther King's overall basketball record.

Glenn's coach is still Sean Colson. Great enough for him.

Colson is the Cougars' first-year boss. He was an impressive floor leader for Franklin Learning Center's 1992 Public League champions and spent some time in the NBA after starring at UNC-Charlotte.

"How many point guards can say their coach played that same position and made it to the NBA?" Glenn said. "It's great being taught by him. He has all that experience and he knows what it takes. He's tough on me. Very tough. But I'm fine with it because I know he's only trying to get the best out of me.

"He's building me for that leadership role. Making me a more responsible person. A guy who shows character. If he can't make it to practice right away sometimes, I'm the one who leads us."

Glenn, a 5-10, 160-pound senior, spoke Sunday evening in somewhat subdued fashion.

Completely understandable. In a battle of unbeatens (18-0 apiece), played at Ben Franklin High before a beyond-juiced, overflow crowd as part of a showcase event, King fell to Math, Civics & Sciences Charter, 80-71, in overtime.

Glenn, a lefty with whirlwind, yet sensible tendencies, drew raves from scouts and college coaches while totaling 22 points, seven rebounds, three assists and four steals. He shot 6-for-15 (3-for-7 on treys) and 7-for-7 at the line.

Alas, he fouled out shortly after OT began. Two other starters, Gregory Bennett and C-Ron Jennings, had reached the quota in the fourth quarter.

"That made it really tough," Glenn said. "Just couldn't fight the same way. Really proud of my team, though.

"Wins come. Losses come. Nobody's perfect. We were definitely down and sad. But we'll be good going forward."

For the second year, the Public League's hundreds of teams - oh, it's not thousands? seems like it - are grouped by ability rather than geography or enrollment. King finds itself in Division C (E is the lowest) while MC & S can be found in A . . . and at the top of the Daily News' City Top 10.

King's schedule, largely through no fault of its own, had been medium to weak. Who knows how the program would be faring sans Colson? Once word began spreading that he was taking over, the transfer winds reached gale force; seven of the first eight guys are newcomers.

Glenn formerly attended World Communications Charter.

"We had good individual players," he said. "But there wasn't much of a team effort."

Before this one, Glenn felt confident.

"We knew they were 'supposed' to be better," he said. "But we knew we could give them a great game. We put in lots of hard work in practice and coach gave us a great plan. We wanted to double their big guys, 'Lump' [Jeremiah Worthem] and Quadir [Welton], any time they got the ball in the post."

Worthem totaled 15 points while Welton claimed nine rebounds. Shafeek Taylor, Louis Myers and Malik Starkes thirded 39 points while Britton Lee dished four assists. Worthem and Taylor had five points apiece in the 17-8 OT session.

The extra 4 minutes became necessary when Raquan Brown-Johnson, after circling around a double screen, took a feed from Glenn and nailed a left-wing trey at 0:06. Taylor then hit the rim with a three-quarter-court heave.

Brown-Johnson had 23 points, five boards, four assists and two apiece of steals/blocks. Bennett added 13 points and six rebounds.

Glenn, a strong student, lives near 9th Street and Roosevelt Boulevard, in Logan, and is unsure what sort of college interest he's stirring.

"Coach says he'll tell me when it matters," he said. "He wants me to stay focused on the season."

Roberts Vaux and Rysheed Jordan topped Princeton Day (Md.) and Aquille Carr, 70-66. Jordan, who's down to Temple, St. John's and UCLA, totaled 19 points, six rebounds and six assists. The 5-6 Carr, a Seton Hall commit who has drawn national attention for his dribbling skills and vast heart, had 22, seven and five.