LAWRENCE -- Unlike Eddie Murphy's character leaving Zamunda in the 1988 movie, "Coming to America,'' Teddy Okereafor didn't let luck decide his future.

He left England to come to the United States for one reason and one reason only.

"To pursue basketball,'' he said the other day, sitting in the Alumni Gym lobby at Rider University. "That was the sole reason.''

Teddy Okereafor

That was six years ago, when he was 17. After high school in the Stratford section of London, the teen enrolled at a prep school in Virginia, was recruited to play at Virginia Commonwealth, transferred here two years ago and remains the best player on the team.

A couple of weeks ago he was named the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference Player of the Week. He scored 38 points against Marist the previous week and set a conference-record 25 of 30 free throws.

Already possessing a degree in business administration, he is finishing the first year of his master's in business communications. Should he get an opportunity to play pro basketball, whether the NBA or in Europe, he will likely interrupt his studies to pursue the game.

Though he didn't start playing basketball until age 12 (soccer was his game), he went on to make the Under-18 English National Team. The past couple of summers he's played for the Great Britain National Team, intermittingly returning to take summer classes at Rider.

"I'm more mature now,'' he said. "I didn't really grow up rough, but I didn't have a silver spoon. I've always been humble and appreciate what I have, and have been able to surround myself with good people and try to bring out the best in them. I think that translates into the game. That's probably why I like passing the ball more than scoring. I enjoy it.''

As a point guard, his position demands it.

Although Rider takes a losing record (9-14) into weekend games at Niagara and Canisius, the Broncs have won four of their last six..

In part has been the play of the 6-foot-4 Okereafor. In the month of January he averaged 18.4 points, 4.5 assists and 4.3 rebounds. He started all 33 games last year after playing minimally at VCU.

His step-father, who played basketball in college, introduced him to the game. Teddy and his older brother Anthony would spend hours across the street shooting at a park. It had just one hoop and the court was dirt. If it rained, no basketball.

Fortunately for the brothers their mother and step-father opened a sports academy with a basketball club team. His mother Natasha, his brother, his 11-year-old sister Stephanie and their grandmother ("Baba") will be in the states near the end of the month for Senior Night.

"My grandmother played basketball in Russia,'' Okereafor said. "That's why I wear number five. That was her number when she played. She can still make a layup now and then.

"She follows my games. Because they're five hours ahead, sometimes she'll text me at 3 a.m. She has a laptop, has an iPhone and face time. When I went two games without making a three-point shot, I think I was 0 for six, she called me and said, 'You can't make a shot. What's going on?' I'm like, 'Whatever, grandma.' ''

His grandfather on his mother's side was a pretty good boxer in Russia, Okereafor said - or so he's been told. So there are some athletic bloodlines there.

Soccer is still in his blood, and he'll kick the ball around when he's home; which he hasn't been since summer. "It's England,'' he shrugged.

Yet he doesn't have much of an accent.

"When I go home I'm told I sound American. Four or five days later I sound normal,'' he said smiling. "But sometimes I will say, 'Oy,' which is your equivalent of 'yo.' ''

He might have uttered that sitting in his room over the holidays, glancing at the schedule and realizing the end was near. "I'm thinking, 'Wow, this is about to be it.' We were struggling at the time and we needed someone to step up and take control. It's my job to lead. I'm the head of the snake. It's paid off so far.''

In more ways than one.

"If someone is thinking of doing what I've done, I would just say to work hard, embrace it and enjoy it. I have, and I have enough stories to last a lifetime. It's still college at the end of the day,'' he said. "Believe it and go do it. I say life is what you make it.''

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