SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 20, 2016

THE MERCURY

SIXERS NOTEBOOK

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C

YOUTH & RECREATION ROUNDUP

Still no timetable on return of

injured center Nerlens Noel
By Jack McCaffery
jmccaffery@21st-centurymedia.com
@JackMcCaffery on Twitter

Nerlens
Noel, who has not played
a minute for the 76ers this
season, is closer to a return
about 800 miles closer,
anyway.
Not that the Sixers are
in any rush to include the
sixth overall pick in the
2013 draft and a former
All-Rookie team performer
into any plan to succeed
at basketball, but they
have lured the 6-11 center
back from Alabama. Thats
where Noel had been recovering from minor surgery to quiet the inflamed
lining of his left knee.
Before they played the
Phoenix Suns Saturday,
Brett Brown confirmed
that Noel had made it into
the Sixers practice facility
in Camden, not to practice,
but at least for a face-toface with the head coach.
I was with him, Brown
said. It was great seeing Nerlens. We talked all
about the plan going forward. I am not able right
now to lay out the perfect
road map to everybody. But
it was a great conversation.
It was good to see him.
When earlier seen in
Camden, before training
camp, Noel was questioning the Sixers decision
to employ three marquee
centers, including himself, Joel Embiid and Jahlil
Okafor. More, he was publicly certain that the plan
would not work.
With the Sixers enterPHILADELPHIA >>

ing play Saturday at 2-10, it

was obvious that it wasnt
working with two centers,
either. Just the same, there
was, at least, some welcome conversation.
As we always do with
our players, and me with
Nerlens, I have been with
him a long time, Brown
said, its very clean and
candid on what will be his
role, how it is going to happen and how we are going
to try and make it work.
It will be a conversation
with all of us for a different time.
The Sixers famous for
putting off the return of
highly drafted players after injury, it was predictable that they would endeavor to table the discussion. Just the same, Brown
took bows for the franchises candor.
It s t r a n s p a r ent ,
Brown said. Its on the table in the conversations I
had with Nerlens. It was
good today. And more importantly it was great to
see him.
***
It didnt take Brown long
Thursday to realize something was wrong with Joel
Embiids ankle.
Three minutes into
the Minnesota game, you
could tell, Brown said. He
went down. And you could
see that it hurt. And when
you saw it afterwards on
tape, you could see why. So
you could tell it right then.
It was always on my mind:
Is he going to be OK?
Embiid played 22 minutes in the 110-86 loss to
the Wolves, and he joined

the Sixers for a lengthy

morning shoot-around
Saturday. Though listed
as questionable, the Sixers
announced moments before the game that Embiid
would start and remain on
a 24-minute limit.
If nothing else, Embiids
minutes against Minnesota
and his availability Saturday shows a slight easing
of the Sixers reluctance to
expose him to risk.
Any time you roll an
ankle, you have adrenaline and you want to stay
in the game, Brown said.
Always, like all of us, you
continue on and you wake
up the next day and are a
little sore. I feel it is just as
simple as that. He pushed
through the game and
woke up sore.
Embiids late availability
caused Brown to change a
plan to start Okafor at center. Like Embiid, Okafor
was on a 24-minute limit.
***
Like the Sixers, the Suns
were wondering earlier
Saturday whether Devin
Booker would play due to
a sore ankle.
Unlike the Sixers, they
were not willing to quickly
present alternative plans.
Asked before the game who
would start if Booker was
unavailable, Suns coach
Earl Watson refused: Im
not even planning on that.
We think positive. We dont
think negative.
Before the game, Booker
was declared available to
play.
***
The Sixers will host the
Miami Heat Monday.

PHOTO COURTESY THE ELLEN SHOW

Pottstown native Marvin Pearson, left, sits down with Ellen DeGeneres of The Ellen
Show during an episode last month.

Whirlwind
FROM PAGE 1

Pearson said. I had to be

held up the whole time. I
was like wow, Im meeting such a big figure in my
life. There arent many opportunities where you get
to meet Drew Brees and he
gives you a signed jersey
and you have players taking off their gloves like Michael Thomas (rookie wide
receiver) and giving them to
you. To meet Mark Ingram
(running back) and joke
with the guys, I felt like a
part of them and they definitely made me feel like
family. I definitely had a
good time.
They reiterated to me
what Ive been saying the
whole time. Never let anything get you down. There
isnt anything in life that
should keep you down.
Just keep pushing forward.
Youll always have struggles
in your life but you cant let
that stop you. You just need
to keep pushing forward to
be great.
His new found fame
didnt garner Pearson just
scholarships and a VIP trip,
it yielded him a chance to
become a role model for
others with disabilities a
character trait hes yearned

to practice throughout it all.

A lot of people talk about
their kids being blind or
having a disability in general, he said. They ask me
to come to their school or
help with their senior projects in college. I remember a
lady in specific who reached
out to me, who had a daughter who played tackle football with all boys. Shout out
to her for not holding her

daughter back and for my

mom for not holding me
back from playing football.
People like that are the ones
who give us a shot and give
us a chance to be a great.
I always wanted to be
someone that people looked
up to. I definitely feel honored to have an opportunity
to be the role model to people that Ive always wanted
to be.

Stowe MeDICAL GRoUP

555 Glasgow Street
Stowe, PA 19464

PHONE: 484-945-0770
Stowe Medical Group will be running
Flu Shot Clinics from now until Mid-November.
Below are the days and times:
Tuesdays 9AM-11AM & 1PM-4PM
Wednesdays 9AM-11AM & 1PM-4PM
Thursdays 9AM-11AM & 1PM-4PM
*Appointments are not required. If you have
an appointment scheduled in October,
November, or December, you will receive
your flu shot at that time.

(For Stowe Medical patients only)

The Boyertown Black Bears. Front row (L-R): Head Coach Dave Moser, Evan Hetrick,
Luke Moser, Teague Miller, Chance Babb, Asst. Coach Dana Babb; second row (L-R):
Asst. Coach Jude Ferraro, Cole Hertzler, Tyler Hoffman, Ethan Ferraro, Collin Eisenhard,
Brandon Shane, Trey Yesavage, Jonathan Myers, Asst. Coach Rich Hetrick

Boyertown Black Bears cap

standout fall baseball season
Baseball
T he 12U Boyer town
Black Bears of the Boyertown Midget Baseball
League finished their
2016 season with a dominating record of 47-1.
Their season included
playing against teams
from Brandywine, Twin
Valley, Governor Mifflin, Limerick, Muhlenburg and Pottsgrove in
the City County Diamond
League. They finished
at the top for the regular season and battled
through the playoffs to
be crowned 2016 Champions. The Black Bears
also competed in several
weekend tournaments.
They finished as champions in the Exeter, Upper Perk, and Audubon
Tournaments, and won
both of their out of state
tournaments such as the
Terrapin Classic at the
Ripken Complex in Aberdeen, Md., and Sports
at the Beach in Georgetown, Del. At these two
tournaments, they com-

peted against teams from

Puerto Rico, Connecticut, DelMarVa, W hite
Marsh, Boston, South
Jersey and others.
The Black Bears were
dominating at the plate
with a .450 team batting
average, 577 hits, 563 runs
scored and 89 homeruns.
The team pitching was
just as powerful with an
ERA of 2.56, giving up
121 runs, 99 of them were
earned. Congratulations
to the 2016 Black Bears.
The 2016 Black Bears
were coached by Head
Coach Dave Moser and
assistants Jude Ferraro,
Dana Babb, Matt Eisenhard, Rich Hetrick and
Troy Hertzler.

Silvias Gymnastics
Silv ias Gy mna stics
level 5 competed in the
WCU Fall Fling held on
November 13, 2016 and
hosted by West Chester
University.
Individual Results:
AGE 9-AND-UNDER >> Shyla
Bhatia placed first on
bars and AA, second on

vault and floor, and tied

for third on beam; Isabella Beach placed first
on floor, second AA, tied
for second on bars, tied
for third on beam, and
placed fourth on vault;
Troi Minor placed third
on floor and tied for third
on beam.
AGE 10 >> Nadia Van Horn
placed first on bars and
f loor, second A A, and
tied for second on vault;
Sarah Golie placed third
on bars, fourth on vault
and AA, fifth on beam,
and tied for fifth on floor;
Ava Nagata placed second
on f loor, and fifth A A;
Bella Grauer placed third
on f loor; Brooke Baker
placed fourth on beam;
Marisa Famularo placed
second on beam.
AGE 11 >> Lily Smith placed
first on vault, bars, beam,
floor, and AA; Julia Reid
placed second on f loor,
fifth A A, and sixth on
bars and beam; Dylan
Scherping tied for third
on floor.
Silvias level 5 team
placed first.