{"id":839,"date":"2011-03-01T00:43:00","date_gmt":"2011-03-01T00:43:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/lbpost.com\/articles\/sports\/nevens-an-inspiring-spark-for-long-beach-state-title-run\/"},"modified":"2011-03-01T00:43:00","modified_gmt":"2011-03-01T00:43:00","slug":"nevens-an-inspiring-spark-for-long-beach-state-title-run","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/sports\/nevens-an-inspiring-spark-for-long-beach-state-title-run","title":{"rendered":"Nevens an Inspiring Spark for Long Beach State Title Run"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"
Brandon Nevens addresses the crowd on Senior Night as CSULB President F. King Alexander looks on.<\/em><\/p>\n

7:00pm |<\/strong> Two years ago, no one was thinking about whether or not Brandon Nevens would be able to play on his Senior Night. No one was thinking about whether or not he would be able to play basketball, period.<\/p>\n

After a scary collapse on the Long Beach State track during a 2008 preseason workout, people were wondering whether or not Nevens was going to make it out of the hospital.<\/p>\n

But after missing two full seasons of basketball and wading through the muck that is the NCAA eligibility extension process, here was Nevens on his Senior Night scoring, rebounding and playing solid defense in front of his friends and family to beat UC Santa Barbara. After the game, he was honored along with fellow seniors Greg Plater and Tristan Wilson with a framed jersey and standing ovation.<\/p>\n

He wasn\u2019t sure that he\u2019d ever get to see this moment.<\/p>\n

“Honestly, I don\u2019t know man,” he said after the ceremony. “A part of me said no and a part of me said yeah.” <\/p>\n

Head coach Dan Monson was a little more decisive.<\/p>\n

\u201cNo, I honestly didn\u2019t,\u201d he said. \u201cAnd he was such a great teammate that I was just waiting for him to come in some day and say, you know what, they\u2019re never going to clear me, this is too hard. And it\u2019s too early in the morning. And he never missed a practice. I never said something in a meeting and he didn\u2019t nod his head yes. He\u2019s as a good a teammate as I\u2019ve ever seen, to go that long without playing.\u201d<\/p>\n

Beating the dangerous \u201ccompartment syndrome\u201d in both legs was, frankly, the easy part. While Nevens sat out and waited for medical clearance from the team, and then from the NCAA, he attended every practice, film session and team meeting. Often, he dressed in full practice gear knowing he couldn\u2019t set foot on the court.<\/p>\n

“But I just kept faith in God and I kept faith in my coaches,” said the 6\u20193″, 210 lb. guard. “Because they helped me a great deal in this situation so it just felt good to finally get out here and show what I can do.”<\/p>\n

Since finally receiving NCAA clearance in mid-December, Nevens has shown his stuff and remarkably played a key role in a championship season. He\u2019s proven to be an energetic spark, but also a sound fundamentalist with few mistakes. More than anything, he\u2019s the glue guy that the 49ers need, taking charges and tracking down loose balls for easy lay-ins. Long Beach State wrapped up the Big West regular season title last Thursday with Nevens playing key minutes off the bench. No one, not even Monson, saw that coming.<\/p>\n

\u201cTo be honest with you, as a player I never had seen that much, he was a walk-on,\u201d Monson said. \u201cI let him walk on because he was a great kid, not because he\u2019s a great player. I hadn\u2019t really seen him. I looked up his stats at [Cal State] Bakersfield and it wasn\u2019t really a basketball decision.\u201d<\/p>\n

But on a team with several players who will likely make Big West All-Conference teams, Nevens has carved out a vital niche in the rotation.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s a great player for our needs coming off the bench because he\u2019s a low-risk, no-mistake guy,\u201d said Monson. \u201cBrandon could go in and impact a game just with a defensive stop, in one play.\u201d<\/p>\n

Even before being medically cleared, Nevens had already made an impact on his teammates for his selflessness and dedication. Last night, the local boy and Lakewood High graduate was recognized for those attributes and more with the McDonald\u2019s Press On Award at a formal banquet at the Lakewood Youth Hall of Fame. It\u2019s awarded for overcoming adversity, but with Nevens you get the sense that he never really had any other option.<\/p>\n

\u201cI just want to play, that\u2019s all I want to do,” he said. “I love basketball, I love the game and I just like being around my team and my coaches and that\u2019s what kept me going. They always motivate me each and every day and it pays off.”<\/p>\n

During his Senior Night speech, microphone in hand, teary-eyed sportswriters and scorekeepers watched intently as Nevens thanked the fans and coaches and paused before telling his teammates, \u201cYa\u2019ll are my brothers, man.\u201d <\/p>\n

After two consecutive seasons that proved to be disappointments for the team on the court and for Nevens off it, is it any coincidence that Nevens\u2019 inspiring return occurs as the 49ers win the conference title and appear more focused and close-knit than ever? Not likely.<\/p>\n

“To get a ring, that in itself is overwhelming,” he said. “Now we have a chance to get to this [conference] tournament and I just want to do whatever I can to help this team, and I know we\u2019re going to go pretty far. We\u2019ve just got to keep it going and keep the defense up and keep running.”<\/p>\n

No one\u2019s happier to keep running than Nevens.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

After missing two full seasons with medical issues, senior guard Brandon Nevens has surprised everyone \u2014 including himself and his coach \u2014 by not only returning, but playing an integral role in the 49ers’ championship run.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":33,"featured_media":16793,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"newspack_sponsor_sponsorship_scope":"","newspack_sponsor_native_byline_display":"inherit","newspack_sponsor_native_category_display":"inherit","newspack_sponsor_underwriter_style":"inherit","newspack_sponsor_underwriter_placement":"inherit","inline_featured_image":false,"newspack_ads_suppress_ads":false,"newspack_popups_has_disabled_popups":"","_":"","_author_alias":"","cap-aim":"","cap-description":"","cap-display_name":"","cap-first_name":"","cap-jabber":"","cap-last_name":"","cap-linked_account":"","cap-newspack_employer":"","cap-newspack_job_title":"","cap-newspack_phone_number":"","cap-newspack_role":"","cap-user_email":"","cap-user_login":"","cap-website":"","cap-yahooim":"","newspack_article_summary":"","newspack_email_html":"","newspack_email_type":"","newspack_featured_image_position":"","newspack_hide_page_title":"","newspack_hide_updated_date":false,"newspack_post_subtitle":"","newspack_show_share_buttons":"","newspack_sponsor_byline_prefix":"","newspack_sponsor_disclaimer_override":"","newspack_sponsor_flag_override":"","newspack_sponsor_only_direct":"","newspack_sponsor_url":"","newspack_article_summary_title":"Overview:","newspack_show_updated_date":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"newspack_spnsrs_tax":[],"coauthors":[],"class_list":["post-839","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-sports","entry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/sports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/839","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/sports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/sports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/sports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/33"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/sports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=839"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/sports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/839\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/sports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/16793"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/sports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=839"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/sports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=839"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/sports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=839"},{"taxonomy":"newspack_spnsrs_tax","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/sports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/newspack_spnsrs_tax?post=839"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/sports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=839"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}