Boo & Ike Show - SPORTING CHANCE by Joaquin M. Henson

James Brewer is nicknamed "Boo" and sure enough, the 6-2 guard gave Mobiline a pre-Halloween scare before the Phone Pals outlasted Shell, 99-93, in the Philippine Basketball Association (PBA) Governors Cup at the Big Dome last Sunday.

That was Boo’s local debut – he scored 37 points, not bad for someone shaking off jet lag. Brewer flew in the night before to replace John Morton in the wake of the Turbo Chargers’ three-game losing skid. Now, Shell has lost four in a row. Coach Perry Ronquillo’s consolation is Brewer seems to be a lot more enthusiastic than the lethargic Morton. Whether that will mean Shell advancing to the quarters remains to be seen. Shell (1-5) has three more games left in its elims calendar.

Another new import is 6-3, 210-pound Isaac (Ike) Fontaine who quietly planed in early Sunday morning to take over from Joe Temple at Sta. Lucia Realty. Coach Norman Black bit the bullet after the Realtors lost two straight. Los Angeles-based import recruiter Mike Gonzalez sent Fontaine to Sta. Lucia.

Boo and Ike can put on quite a show on the floor.

Brewer is one of the most athletic imports ever to play here. At Bardstown High School in Kentucky, Boo set campus records in long jump (23’6"), 300-meter low hurdles (37.5 seconds), and 200-meter dash (21.6 seconds). He was also the school’s career rushing leader in football. After graduation, Boo was recruited by Penn State and Oklahoma for football but opted to play hoops at Louisville.

Cardinals coach Denny Crum said, "He’s an excellent athlete in the open court, a good shooter and he’s enthusiastic and a hard-nosed player."

In four years as a part-time starter in Crum’s rotation, Brewer ranked second in Louisville history in three-point conversions (131) and three-point field goal percentage (.397). As a senior in 1992-93, he hit 8-of-14 treys against Oral Roberts and shot 26 against Oklahoma State. As a junior, Boo fired 16 points in 15 minutes to power Louisville to an upset over Louisiana State. And as a sophomore, he shot 28 points, including 7-of-10 triples, and grabbed seven rebounds in Louisville’s 104-77 win over Southwestern Louisiana.

Brewer never averaged big numbers for the Cardinals. He hit at a 2.8 clip as a freshman, 9.7 as a sophomore, 7.9 as a junior, and 10.0 as a senior. At Louisville, he was surrounded by future National Basketball Association (NBA) pros like LaBradford Smith, Pervis Ellison, Kenny Payne, and Jerome Harmon. Payne and Harmon were once PBA imports as were former Louisville stars Jerry Eaves and Billy Thompson.

Before moving to the PBA, Brewer toured the world, playing for Forli in Italy and Lugano in Switzerland, among other clubs.

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Fontaine, 25, saw action for the Connecticut Pride in the Continental Basketball Assocation (CBA) the last two seasons. This past campaign, he averaged 15.8 points and 2.4 rebounds. He shot 52 percent from the field, 83.8 percent from the line, and a scorching 48.8 percent from three-point range. Fontaine is known as a pure shooter, just like Mobiline’s Tod Bernard.

Ike’s full name is Isaac Henry Sedric Fontaine IV. He finished his career at Washington State as the Cougars’ all-time leading scorer with 2,003 points in 120 games. He started in his last 90 games as a collegian and broke ex-PBA import Don Collins’ school single-season record of 647 points by compiling 657 as senior in 1996-97. Ike was the first Washington State player to lead the varsity in scoring for three straight years since Jim McKean in 1966-68.

"Ike is an outstanding competitor," said Arizona coach Lute Olson. "He’s a difficult guy to defend in that he can shoot the ball from the perimeter very well but he can also penetrate with the best of them."

As a Washington State senior, Fontaine hit at a 21.9 clip and shot 44.1 percent from three-point distance. He averaged over 18 points in both his sophomore and junior years. In his final varsity game, Fontaine hit 33 points, including five triples, in the Cougars’ 87-86 loss to UCLA. He netted 32 against Arizona, 32 against Washington, and 30 against Michigan that season.

"I think Ike’s one of the best shooters in the country," said Cougars coach Kevin Eastman. "He’s one of the better combination that I’ve seen around, in terms of his ability to score. He’s very good at scoring when he gets fouled, making him an excellent finisher."

As a sophomore in 1994-95, Fontaine was one of only three Pacific-10 players (the others were Ed O’Bannon and Brent Barry) to rank in the top 10 of four major offensive categories. He was seventh in scoring (18.5), ninth in field goal percentage (.525), third in three-point percentage (.450), and seventh in free throw percentage (.771).

Like Boo, Ike’s a European veteran – he played for Pesaro in Italy and Nancy in France.

Fontaine came from the Jesuit High School in Sacramento. Despite his prep background, he’ll be welcomed with open arms by Sta. Lucia assistant coach Franz Pumaren and Chris Tan whose teachers were Christian Brothers at La Salle.