Lyndon State transfer brings Big Apple flavor to NEK

3/13/08

By Andrew R. Koch
Sports Editor

Lyndon State has a number of students from the New York Tri-State area, but not so many students from the city itself. That’s what makes Cesar Martinez’s journey to Lyndon State very interesting.

Martinez is a junior guard for the men’s basketball team. A native of East Harlem in Manhattan, he transferred here from Morrisville State College, a two-year school in upstate New York, where he got his associate’s degree in Social Sciences. After graduating from Morrisville, he still didn’t have a school to play basketball at.

“I was getting recruited by a Division II school, but it didn’t work out.” This is when his youth basketball coach came in to help.

“My AAU coach took it upon himself to look at last year’s schedule,” Martinez said. His coach saw that he had a good game against Lyndon State, and then Martinez got a call from head coach Randy Rathburn. He says there’s a stark contrast between where he grew up and where he’s going to college now, and that he really just ended up here.

“I never thought in my wildest dreams I’d end up here, move here or live here. It’s a culture shock,” Martinez said.

Martinez is a guard who plays with a very aggressive style. Even though he can shoot from three-point range, he likes to drive hard to the basket for lay-ups against taller forwards.

Martinez said that at Morrisville State, the coach wanted him to be just a shooter. He didn’t get a chance to show he could drive to the basket, like he’s getting here.

“The New York City style of play is very guard-oriented, so you have to be aggressive. If you’re not aggressive, you’re not gonna make it,” Martinez said.

Martinez was forced into the point guard position this year due to injuries on the team. This was a new role for him because he’s always been a shooting guard. Those injuries contributed in part to the team’s seven-game losing streak that took them out of postseason contention.

That losing streak really got to some of the players, including Martinez, who had some ideas of his own to keep the team from going on such long losing streaks in the future.

“You win games in practice. Every game we won, we had a good practice before. When we work hard in practice, it spills over into the game,” Martinez said, adding that chemistry between the players was a problem for this year’s team.

“It’s our chemistry that killed us. Anyone sitting in the stands can see that we’ve got talent. We just haven’t gelled yet,” Martinez said.

Martinez, who is studying for a degree in Exercise Science with a concentration in physical therapy, clearly has the drive and the passion that will hopefully lead to more success for the men’s basketball team as it moves up to NCAA Division III and the North Atlantic Conference next year.