Tandem takes talent to Brown

By Marvin Pave  |  June 28, 2009

Brookline’s Tucker Halpern and Sudbury’s Andrew McCarthy both measure 6-feet-8. The pair also developed their low post moves and shooting touch on the courts of the Independent School League, just a few miles apart. And this fall, the promising tandem are headed to Brown University together, as a part of second-year head coach Jesse Agel’s first recruiting class.

Halpern averaged 19.4 points, 10.1 rebounds, and 3.6 assists per game as a senior at Noble & Greenough School in Dedham, where he set a program record with 1,800 career points. A four-time Independent School League All-Star and a McDonald’s All-American nominee, Halpern helped Nobles advance to the New England Class C prep semifinals three consecutive years.

Also a McDonald’s nominee, McCarthy was an ISL pick at Buckingham Browne & Nichols School in Cambridge, where he averaged more than 20 points and 10 rebounds per game as a sophomore and junior. Sidelined his senior season with a back injury, he averaged 13 points, 8 rebounds, and 3.5 blocks per game at Northfield Mount Hermon School this last winter. His father, Charles, played on Lexington High’s 1978 state championship basketball team.

“Tucker and Andrew bring versatility, ability, and a great desire to be great basketball players to Brown. Our plan is to get them on the court and turn them loose,’’ said Agel, who spent 17 years as assistant at the University of Vermont before joining Craig Robinson’s staff at Brown.

“Tucker can not only knock down the 3, he can create off the dribble for himself and others. He does everything well on the floor because of his high court IQ.’’

“Andrew plays with a tremendous amount of energy. He has that great ability to put the ball in the basket in the post with his long arms and great touch. He rebounds, blocks shots and has extended and comfortable shooting range right out to the three-point line.’’

Taylor Berliant, a shot and discus competitor at Lincoln-Sudbury Regional High, has made a successful transition to hammer throwing as a sophomore track and field athlete at Claremont-McKenna College in Claremont, Calif. Berliant earned All-America honors in the hammer event at the recent NCAA Division 3 championships in Marietta, Ohio with a personal-best throw of 183 feet 1 inch - good for third place. He was also hammer and shot put champion at his school’s conference championships this season.

“Under less than ideal conditions, Taylor was one of only three athletes in the hammer who bettered their entry performance,’’ said the college’s head track coach, John Goldhammer. "He is an outstanding clutch performer and has been for his two years here. The 183-1 came on his final throw.’’

The Sudbury resident is the latest L-S grad to successfully adapt to the hammer throwing technique in college because it was not an event in high school competition: In 2002, Lincoln’s Richard Chau was second at the New England Division 3 championships and seventh at nationals while at Williams College. In 2005 Lincoln’s John Moran, whose father, David, is a volunteer “throws’’ coach at L-S, was third at the Heptagonal (Ivy League) Championships, representing Dartmouth College.

Christy Haughey of Wellesley, who will be a senior at the Dana Hall School in her hometown, was selected by USA Field Hockey to participate in the National Futures Championship at the organization’s National Training Center in Virginia Beach.

Also a standout varsity tennis, squash, and ice hockey player, Haughey was a recipient earlier this month of the “Fitzie Award,’’ for her all-around contribution to the Dana Hall community. It is named for Margaret Fitzgerald Grogan Petersmeyer, a nationally ranked figure skater who attended Dana Hall and passed away in 1985 at age 33 after a long battle with cancer.

The wait was worth it for Newton native Vanessa Cox , the head women’s lacrosse coach at MIT who played for Team Canada at the recent Lacrosse World Cup in Prague, Czech Republic. Cox, who was eligible to play for Team Canada because her mother, Micheline, has dual US and Canadian citizenship, was an alternate on the 2005 Canadian squad but did not play in the previous World Cup that year in Annapolis, Md.

“Competing at this level has been my dream for over five years now and I can’t believe the time has finally come to put the years of hard work, sprint workouts, wall ball, and lifting to use,’’ Cox said in an e-mail from Prague on the eve of the games.

A Globe All-Scholastic and leading scorer at Newton North High, Cox is a 2005 graduate of the University of Vermont, where she set women’s lacrosse program records for career points (173) and goals (133).

Newton North’s Bill Uberti and Newton South’s Willie Allen were co-recipients of the Hamill Award as the top high school baseball players in the City of Newton. Uberti, a first team Bay State Conference All-Star, came back from a preseason injury to record 13 RBIs in 11 games while Allen led South in six offensive categories while belting some tape-measure home runs.

Marvin Pave can be reached at 508-820-4223 or at marvin.pave@rcn.com.