Nate Pierre-Louis ready to take stage as national high school hoops star at St. Peter's Prep

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Plainfield's Nate Pierre-Louis, who will be a freshman at St. Peter's Prep, is expected to be one of the most highly-pursued players in the country.

(Saed Hindash/The Star-Ledger)

W

ith eight seconds left in the third quarter, the skinny kid caught the ball at half-court and began to dribble. He moved forward, then ducked back.

Six seconds

. Another fake step towards the basket, then a pull back.

Four seconds

. Finally, an opening appeared along the sideline.

Two seconds

. His coaches and everyone in the sticky, sweaty Dickinson High School gym yelled for him to go.

The kid stopped. Then stepped back behind the half-court line.

One second.

Swish.

"I missed it!" Crystal Pierre-Louis shouted, staring up from her cracked iPhone. "I was texting! Arghhh! I hate missing when Nathaniel does something like that!"

She stood and clapped her hands as her son was mobbed by the rest of his teammates on the St. Peter's Prep team during a routine Wednesday night game earlier this month in the Hamilton Park Summer Basketball League. Two other team mothers smiled. Three strangers — who figured out she was the boy's mother — gave her thumbs up. "You must be pretty proud," they told her.

It's hard not to be.

Her son is Nate Pierre-Louis.

And even though he hasn't played a single second of organized high school basketball, the 14-year old from Plainfield is about to become one of the most talked-about players in the country. He's had more inquires from major college programs about his future than birthdays. He routinely put up jaw-dropping numbers in at the middle school level — which may sound ridiculous, until you realize it's become one of college basketball's hottest recruiting grounds.

But the biggest piece to the teenager's budding status? A scholarship offer from Rutgers and its new head coach, Eddie Jordan.

"I've worked hard on my game since I was little," Pierre-Louis said after scoring 28 points in a win over the Newark Tech team. "I play basketball because I love it. I don't play basketball for offers. I'm only a freshman. I've got three more years after this."

• • •

E

very so often, Frantz Pierre-Louis will flip on the home movie he's converted into a DVD. It's from about 11 years ago, when he had moved his family overseas to Italy as part of the pursuit of his professional basketball career. There was a local hoops league for middle-school-aged kids and his son wanted to play.

Nate was three.

"All he had ever played on was one of those Little Tykes hoops," his father said, laughing. "And there he was with the big kids."

It's been that way ever since. When his family moved back stateside and settled in the Sleepy Hollow section of Plainfield, Nate went to play for Good Shepherd Academy in Irvington, where his mother teaches history and science. The varsity team only allowed boys from sixth through eighth grades to participate.

Nate was able to play as a fourth-grader.

Until recently — when he made high school and college coaches drool even more by sprouting to 6-foot-1 — he was always the smallest kid on the court. But his father, who played at Wagner and had brief stints in the NBA, continued to groom him to play. Any free time was spent at the local YMCA, or Good Shepherd's gym or the hoop in the family's driveway.

Pretty soon, when Nate was in middle school himself, colleges started poking around. His first serious pursuer — as a seventh grader — came from close to home. Shaheen Holloway, a fellow point guard and assistant coach for Seton Hall, told Pierre-Louis that the Pirates were seriously interested. Nate's parents appreciated the gesture, but wanted him to focus on school — where he graduated second in his class this spring.

"It's all a little overwhelming at times," said Crystal, a former track star at Wagner. "He's barely 14. He loves to play basketball, but I don't think we're ready for colleges yet."

The recruiting war for Pierre-Louis is already bubbling.

In addition to the verbal offer from Jordan — which was given by the head coach personally — Nate has received interest from Syracuse, Villanova and Arizona. Many believe his well-rounded approach will allow Pierre-Louis to be different than some of the hyped middle-schoolers who commit and never pan out. (Back in 2007, former head coach Fred Hill offered 14-year old Maiscei Grier, who never panned out to come to Piscataway. He now plays at Division II Saint Joseph's College.)

This though is nothing new for the family. After all, this past year, there was a recruiting battle for his high school career. But while St. Anthony and St. Joseph's-Metuchen were heavily considered, Nate had one choice from the beginning: St. Peter's Prep.

And he's curious to see how he does, because for the first time since he started playing organized basketball, he'll be in the same age bracket as everyone else.

"I'm so anxious to start this season," Pierre-Louis said. "I know the seniors really, really want to win the T of C and I want to do it for them. I just want to win this season for them, because it's their last season."

• • •

I

n the opening minutes of the game against Newark Tech, St. Peter's Prep head coach Todd Decker watched the best and worst of his future star point guard.

There was a sequence where Pierre-Louis had an over-the-shoulder interception of a long pass, flung the ball across the court, got it back and then drove to the hoop — only to make a leaping pass around the cutting defender to a teammate. Most coaches would see all of the eye-catching plays that a freshman-to-be made. Decker? He saw the turnover that resulted from it.

"He's just starting to sniff his potential," Decker said. "The biggest thing is his work ethic. He's always in the gym — he wants this. He's a very talented kid with a high skill level. He has a long way to go, but he's wiling to put in the work and effort to get there."

Part of the reason Pierre-Louis is already so coveted by college coaches is because of his potential. At 6-1, he's already optimal size to be a high-level college player. But he's already long and lanky, which leads many to believe he could reach 6-4 or 6-5 when he's done growing.

Then there is his game, already so refined for a player his age.

"He's extremely skilled for a young player," said longtime New Jersey high school talent evaluator, Jay Gomes of NJHoops.com. "He understands the game and has a great basketball IQ. He sees the floor very well and has the confidence and command of the game, that you usually don't see in a kid that young."

Gomes said that he believes Pierre-Louis is "pretty close" to being on par with Kyle Anderson, Derrick Caracter and Karl Towns as being the most advanced players entering high school in the state.

That's why few were surprised when the 14-year old was offered by Rutgers earlier this month following the Scarlet Knights' basketball camp. (The offer isn't binding until Pierre-Louis signs a National Letter of Intent, which can't signed until November of their senior year.) With Jordan coming in to try and change the culture, but also aim for the state's — and nation's — best recruits, offering Pierre-Louis wasn't just seen as another school getting in on the ground floor.

Pierre-Louis said he was flattered by the offer, but doesn't want to just let that be the only one. The next day after he was offered, his dad said he was up earlier than normal wanted to hit the gym and then the basketball court.

"He doesn't want to be the kid who got offered as an 8th grader and was never heard from again," Frantz said.

His son saw it a different way. To him, the day after was just the beginning to a road that began when he was a toddler and has a very definitive ending.

"Pretty much, I want to be the greatest," he said, with a little smile. "My goal is to be the greatest. Ever since I was two or three years old, I've wanted to be the greatest basketball player who lived."

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