Rudowitz has displayed consistency for Stonehill men's basketball team

Stonehill's leading scorer Rudowitz a mentor for youths in Brockton

By Jim Fenton
ENTERPRISE STAFF WRITER

EASTON - He has made an impact on the Stonehill College men's basketball team since arriving from New Jersey in 2006.

Senior center A.J. Rudowitz is on pace to become just the seventh player in the program's history to exceed 1,600 career points after averaging double figures since his freshman season.

He helped lead the Skyhawks to the NCAA Div. 2 tournament last winter and is the top scorer and rebounder this season on a team that is in first place in the Northeast-10 Conference.

Off the court, Rudowitz has joined his teammates in making an impact with youngsters in Brockton as well.

Rudowitz and the rest of the Skyhawks participate in the Brockton Mentoring Program, serving as a Big Brother to students, most of whom are in middle school.

"It means a lot,'' said Rudowitz, a business management major who made the NE-10 all-academic team the past two years. "I know I wish, as a kid, that I had an opportunity to ask college students or athletes any questions that I wanted. I just hope that it helps them all out a lot.

"It's a really big satisfaction. It's just good to help kids have a good time. You never know what might be going on in their lives, so whatever help you can give them really means a lot.

"We've visited schools a bunch of times, met with kids and got to know them. We give them somebody to talk to and to ask questions. They're excited. Sometimes we have the kids come to Stonehill and come into the gym and shoot around. They're all real excited. They ask a lot of good questions.''

Some of the students that are mentored by the Skyhawks have attended games at the Merkert Gym, and Rudowitz has been able to make an impression on them with his play.

Rudowitz has 1,358 points, putting him in 15th place at Stonehill with 12 games remaining in the regular season.

The 6-foot-6 Rudowitz is leading the Skyhawks in points (16.3) and rebounds (8.5), helping Stonehill get off to an 12-3 start, including 9-1 in the NE-10.

He moved quickly into the starting lineup as a freshman in 2006-07, averaging 12.1 points and 6.1 rebounds to earn a spot on the NE-10 all-rookie team, then averaged 12 points and 5.7 rebounds as a sophomore.

Rudowitz made the all-conference first team and the district all-star team last season after averaging 13.5 points and 7.4 rebounds.

"I think when we recruited A.J., we felt he could be an all-league player,'' said Coach David McLaughlin. "He's very skilled for someone his size. He has a good feel for the game.

"He's gotten a lot better. He made a good leap from freshman to sophomore years, then a really good leap last season. This season, he's gotten stronger and stamina-wise, that's really helped him in the second half of games.''

Rudowitz, who played at Monroe Township High in New Jersey, weighed several offers after being named the Greater Middlesex County player of the year.

He was an AAU teammate of Nick Smith, a key reserve as a freshman on Stonehill's 2005-06 team that reached the NCAA Div. 2 Final Four in Springfield. Smith was the Greater Middlesex County player of the year one season before Rudowitz.

"When I came here for my official visit, I just liked the campus and all the people here,'' said Rudowitz. "I knew Nick Smith. I knew that Randall (Stallworth of New Jersey, who is Stonehill's staring guard) was coming here. It was a lot easier making a decision knowing I was going to know people before I came to school.

"Nick said it was so much fun when they went to the Final Four. All the seniors last year talked about how much fun and how exciting it was. They said the whole campus was behind them with busloads coming to the games. That'd be really cool to do that.

"I've experienced enough individual success. I really just want to end my senior year doing something big on the winning end. This year, we're having about the same start we had last year, but last year, we didn't finish the season well. I see a lot of the younger guys on the team who haven't reached their peak yet still gaining experience and getting better game by game. I think we'll be better at the end of the season.''

Rudowitz is exploring the possibility of playing in Europe next season, or he may enroll in law school.

For now, he is trying to finish up a solid Stonehill basketball career on a winning note.

"A lot of people ask if I thought that was the right decision coming here or should have I gone Div. 1,'' said Rudowitz, "but I think this was the right decision. I've met a lot of good people that I think I'll be friends with the rest of my life.''