Oct. 3, 2006

Two and a half years ago, the eyes of New York City were on Sebastian Telfair as he wrapped up his senior season at Lincoln High School in Brooklyn. But in Bassy's final high school contest - the Class AA federation championship game - he ran into Chris Lowe, a little-known junior point guard at Mount Vernon High. With nowhere near the hype Telfair had accumulated throughout his prep career, Lowe still went out and held New York's all-time leading prep scorer to a season-low 14 points, paving the way to a Mount Vernon win.

"Everybody wants to credit me with playing great defense on [Telfair], but it was an all-around team effort," says Lowe, a humble 19-year-old now entering his sophomore year at the University of Massachusetts. "I don't remember what numbers I put up, but I know we forced him to shoot 3-for-15 and he made, like, seven turnovers."

Lowe averaged 13 points, 6.5 assists, and 4.5 steals the following year, taking Mount Vernon to a second place finish at state. He says he chose UMass over Fordham, UTEP, Temple, Providence, and Virginia Tech, signing on as the first recruit of coach Travis Ford's tenure.

At 6-0, 160 pounds, Lowe led the Atlantic 10 Conference in assists (4.9 per game) as a freshman this past season, adding 5.5 points per game. After coming off the bench at the beginning of the year, Lowe had his breakout game in early January, when he notched seven points, eight boards and seven dimes in a win over St. Joseph's, hounding Hawks standout Dwayne Lee into 3-for-12 shooting. Lowe later had a 14-point, seven-assist game against Fordham, and dropped nine dimes in a win over Temple. In total, Lowe had seven or more assists in nine games, and copped two A-10 Rookie of the Week awards.

"I think my role is just to be a leader of the team. I was thrown into the fire early as a freshman, and now Coach is looking for me to be a vocal leader," Lowe says. "It's something I have to develop. In high school I more led by example - I never really spoke that much."

Lowe was born in Rochester, N.Y., and moved to Mount Vernon to live with his father when he was nine years old. By the time he began to make his mark in the high-profile New York Panthers AAU program, Chris' uncle and trainer, Antoine "Boogie" Lowe, says the kid was a natural in at least one aspect of the game.

"The way he passes the ball, that's a gift; you're born with that," Boogie says. "I don't care how much you practice, you can't learn to pass like that."

When Chris was in seventh grade, he attended a basketball camp put on by Sam Cassell. After the camp, Cassell came over and personally praised Chris for his seemingly inherent point guard skills.

"[Cassell] said I was a great passer, and he hadn't seen that out of a point guard at such a young age," Chris says. "That meant a lot to me, you know. He's one of the best point guards in the League."

Playing for the storied Mount Vernon program, which also produced Ben Gordon, Lowe led his teams to a 47-7 record as a starter, including the '04 state championship and a Top 10 national ranking that same year.

Lowe is a solid pass-first floor general and defensive sparkplug. He scores the majority of his points on forays into the lane and transition layups, in addition to points that come off the turnovers he creates with his aggressive, ball-hawking defense. But Lowe - and just about everyone around him - freely admits he needs to work on his jumper. He shot only 35 percent from the field last year and 27 percent from beyond the arc.

"A lot of teams know that I can get into the lane at will, so toward the end of the season they would collapse [into the paint]. I need to prove that I can hit open jump shots," Lowe says. "I've been in the gym shooting every day. I look at a lot of tapes of other players - Isiah Thomas, Chris Paul, and Kenny Anderson, because I'm left-handed like him."

His primary aim, however, is to restore UMass to its former status as a national powerhouse. The same program that produced Dr. J and Marcus Camby has fallen on hard times lately, including a 13-15 record last year.

"My goal is to help this team get back to the NCAA tournament," Lowe says. "Once we do that, the history of the program will come back. This team is gonna be very scary - watch out for us this year." -AUSTIN BURTON