Jan. 30, 2007

By Matt Meyers

Special to CSTV.com

ELON, N.C. - If you need proof of the old axiom that the apple does not fall from the tree, just take one look at Davidson's Stephen Curry.

The precocious freshman and son of Dell Curry, the NBA's sixth man of the year in 1994, looked just like his pops, pouring in 25 points and shooting 9-for-17 from the field in Davidson's 88-58 drubbing of an overmatched Elon squad as his proud father looked on.

"He is scoring a lot more than I did as a freshman, but I was a little bigger" said Dell, who played at Virginia Tech. "And he's also doing a lot more different things than I did at that age."

Stephen (pronounced Steff-in) did most of his damage in the first half as he set the tone for the game by hitting a three-pointer on Davidson's first possession. The shot came on a kick out from forward Thomas Sander, who had rebounded his own miss. It was the first of 21 offensive rebounds for Davidson, who completely dominated Elon on the boards.

"We gotta go get the ball," Elon coach Ernie Nestor said. "You have to compete. It is a game of competition and we didn't compete. When you don't compete against a good team like that, they are going to pound you. We got what we deserved."

The Charlotte-native Curry, who wears No. 30 like his father, made it very difficult for Elon to compete by scoring 10 points in the games' first seven minutes to give Davidson an early 20-8 lead.

Though Curry has the long-range touch (shooting 4-for-10 from three against Elon) that made his father famous, the entire repertoire was on display as he mixed in some dribble drives and pull-up jumpers en route to 17 points before the break.

"You can't give him open looks," Elon forward LeVonn Jordan said. "Once you start hitting open looks, you feel like you can make them from anywhere. Plus, he is a pretty good shooter to begin with."

With the performance, Curry raised his scoring average to 19.5 points per game, which leads the Wildcats and is second only to Texas' Kevin Durant among freshman scorers in Division I. With four three-pointers against Elon, he now has 75 for the season and is well on his way to breaking the single-season school record of 89, set by Brendan Winter in 2004-05.

It was the tenth time this season that Curry has put up 20 points, and it is the ability to repeat his big nights that has most impressed his father.

"I knew he would get an opportunity to play, but I didn't think he would be this consistent," said Dell, who averaged 11.7 points per game in his 16-year NBA career.

While it was his scoring that was most notable, it was Curry's performance on the boards that earned praise from his coach.

"I am encouraged by Steph and (point guard) Jason (Richards) getting eight rebounds apiece," Davidson coach Bob McKillop said. "Guard rebounding is so vital."

It was more than just his guards that did work on the boards for the Wildcats. They came into the game leading the Southern Conference with a +6.2 rebounding differential and padded that total by outrebounding the Phoenix, 60-39. It was the rare occasion when a team has more rebounds (60) than their opponents have points (58).

"I thought we had great energy tonight," McKillop said. "Energy is usually translated by rebounding and transition baskets."

Sander, a junior, led the board bombardment for Davidson with 13 rebounds to go with his 18 points while fellow junior forward Boris Meno had 12 points and 10 boards.

"Right now, we don't have the urgency to compete against the top teams," Nestor said. "Heck, we couldn't compete against any team on our schedule the way we played tonight."

After losing to Appalachian State in a showdown of the conference's top two teams 10 days ago, Davidson has come back strong to win their next three in emphatic fashion, including a 79-59 victory over Western Carolina on Saturday that was McKillops' 300^th career win. Davidson is now 19-4 overall and 10-1 in the conference. Elon fell to 5-15 overall and just 3-7 in league play.

Though Davidson has a number of potential weapons, Curry is clearly their most dynamic offensive player and the one most likely to cause trouble for a major conference team should they reach the NCAA tournament.

"He is an excellent player," Nestor said. "He is going to have an outstanding career, you can already see that. He has great tempo and great feel for the game and he can shoot the fire out of it."

Yet for all his success thus far this season, Curry's father still sees some room for improvement in his son's jump shot.

"When he is wide open, I think he relaxes a bit," Dell said. "He just needs to take his shot."

Most players probably tend to ignore their father's advice when it comes to shooting, but when your father hit 1,245 three-pointers in his NBA career, it would behoove Stephen to listen.