Oregon State freshman guard Hallice Cooke said President Obama gave him some basketball advice Saturday in the Oval Office.
“At the White House, President Obama told me to rain down some jumpers,” Cooke told SNY.tv after Oregon State beat Maryland 90-83 Sunday at the Comcast Center. “So I was glad I could hit one for him.”
Cooke made one 3-pointer for his only points of the game and Devon Collier went off for 29 points and 11 rebounds as the two former St. Anthony players won in front of the President and the First Family. Senior guard Roberto Nelson led Oregon State with 31 points.
“President Obama told us to go out there and play hard and get a win,” Cooke said.
“It means a lot to these guys because they know him, and he knows them,” OSU coach Craig Robinson, the President’s brother-in-law, told the Baltimore Sun. “They played inspired. For him, for themselves, for Oregon State.”
It was a career-high in points for the 6-foot-8 Collier, a Bronx native who, like Cooke, played for Hall of Fame coach Bob Hurley at St. Anthony in Jersey City.
“It was a team effort,” Collier told the OSU school site. “I came out to play. Berto came out to play. Angus [Brandt] came out to play. The whole team came out to play. I felt it was a team effort; everybody followed the game plan and we came out with a victory.”
Photo: Baltimore Sun
