NOTHING but NET Former Shaler basketball star Geno Thorpe still chases his dreams . BY DAVID GOLEBIEWSKI
INPERSON
Photo courtesy of University of South Florida Athletics .
NOTHING but NET Former Shaler basketball star Geno Thorpe still chases his dreams . BY DAVID GOLEBIEWSKI
Geno Thorpe suited up for the Shaler Titans boys ’ basketball team during the halcyon days of the program . After playing for Shadyside Academy as a freshman , the 6 ' 4 " guard transferred to Shaler High School and blossomed into one of the top playmakers in Pennsylvania .
Thorpe netted more than 1,000 points from 2011 to 2013 , leading the Titans to a pair of Western Pennsylvania Interscholastic Athletic League ( WPIAL ) section titles and a first-ever appearance in the quarterfinals of the Pennsylvania Interscholastic Athletic Association ( PIAA ) playoffs during his junior year .
“ My high school team at Shaler was everybody that I went to elementary school with ,” Thorpe recalls . “ We all knew one another a really , really long time . Everybody in the community supported us and the basketball team . We were just a high school team , but we felt like an NBA team . Everybody cared that much about our games .”
Thorpe , now a junior at the University of South Florida , is still racking up points and making the Shaler community proud . His hoop dreams , which have taken him from Happy Valley to Tampa , could continue at the professional level after he wraps up his college career .
A latecomer to the game ( he didn ’ t start playing basketball until fourth grade , and didn ’ t invest serious time in it until seventh grade ), Thorpe came of age while the University of Pittsburgh men ’ s basketball
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