Louisville Signee Marra Lights Up Rhode Island

by Zach Smart

Smithfield, R.I.—The word spread around New England at the same rate that a Providence club promoter hypes up pre-thanksgiving rage-fest.

It was some simple buzz about the local product who was making a pretty eventful homecoming. Smithfield’s very own Mike Marra, the quick-strike three-point assassin on Northfield-Mount Hermon (Northfield, Mass.), was supposedly the best Rhode Island-bred sniper on this side of T.J. Sorrentine.

Sorrentine, the former Vermont standout who’s now an assistant at Brown, was drawing up Xs and Os just 15 minutes down the road at the Pizzitola Center in Providence, where Northwestern defeated Brown despite a valiant second-half comeback.

So for Marra, the Louisville-signee who’s tight with Rick Pitino and his son Richard, the game would be a real test of his manhood.

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Forty minutes after the tip-off, the hometown kid was being hounded by reporters and even the local news station. He passed the test in flying colors, and the word around the campfire proved prophetic.

Marra scored a game-high 25 points, including two on an extravagant two-handed fast break dunk, as NMH rolled to a 91-63 washout over Fork Union.

NMH’s avalanche of threes, easy layups and stickbacks led to the dumpoff.
“
It felt real good,” said Marra, who raved about his teammates and their ability to shoot the ball.

“When one of us has an off-night, there’s always another guy there to pick us up. Everyone can shoot the ball.”

There was no room for an off-night last night, as Marra and highly-touted recruit Hector Harold (Boston College, Stanford, Pepperdine, California, UC-Santa Clara) shot the lights out early, en route to a smoking 14-for-26 (9-for-18 3fg), 50-point duet.

Marra picked up where he left off, right off the bat in the second half. He swiped an errant pass and raced down the court for the aforementioned flush. After throwing down a monster two-handed jam, the 6-foot-5, 195-pound guard let out a revved up roar, as NHM reached a hefty lead they wouldn’t squander.

NHM shot 46 percent in the second half, when the game evolved into scrub life. To paraphrase Marv Albert, it was supreme garbage time during the waning minutes.

“I made the decision about a year ago,” said Marra, referring to his choice to go to the Big East.

Marra, a zone buster (which helps any team's college basketball odds and pure silk-shooter whose game has drawn comparisons to Notre Dame’s Kyle McLarney, chose Louisville over Syracuse, Wake Forest, Michigan, UMass, and several other mid to high-major schools.

He followed a path that few college basketball players have taken.

Like West Virginia’s Joe Mazzulla, he passed up the Providence/URI lure to stay in-state and went out of state to a Big East program.

Though he’s not too familiar with most of the team yet, Marra plans on getting to know his future teammates soon. As a true freshman, he’d be a great supplement to Jerry Smith and Edgar Sosa in the perimeter game.

In order for him to make an immediate impact, however, his handles and mid-range shooting could use some upgrades.

Samuels Named Big East Rookie of the Week: Freshman forward/center Samuerdo Samuels, the much-hyped blue chip recruit, was announced as the conference’s first Big East Rookie of the Week on Nov.24. The award comes in the aftermath of Samuels’ two marquee performances that helped the Cardinals eat up the cupcakes of the Billy Minardi Classic. The 6-foot-8 Jamaica-born neophyte averaged 21 points, five boards, two block shots, and shot a blazing 77.3 percent (17-for-22) during the first two games of his collegiate career.