Basketball franchise has lots of Rochester talent

Apr. 16—Ray Adams thought he was done with basketball.

"I thought it was about time for me to move on and get my life started," said the former Rochester John Marshall and Rochester Community and Technical College standout. "My thought was to put basketball on the back burner."

That changed thanks to an invitation to play for the first-year amateur team Rochester United Basketball. The team, comprising mostly former Rochester stars and coached by JM 2007 graduate Sam Kenyi, has been a delight for the 6-foot-3, high-rising Adams.

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The team is owned by the same man who owns the third-year Rochester United women's soccer franchise, Matthew Fatehi, a Rochester resident and retired Mayo Clinic employee. Rochester United Basketball plays in the Official Basketball Association. Fatehi also owns another team in the league, TC Elite, out of the Twin Cities.

One game into this season, the 22-year-old Adams has rarely had more fun on a basketball court or with a group of guys. It's a familiar mix for him, with so many of the players former Rochester high school standouts like himself.

There is 6-foot-9 Mayo graduate (2015) Dan Jech, guard Deonte Moore (2014 JM graduate) and guard Calvin Dixon (2019 Mayo graduate). There is also guard and 2019 Austin graduate Mark Manyuon, and 6-7 forward and 2017 JM graduate Dedoch Chan, who is expected to join the team next week.

Jech coming later

Jech, who likely won't play with Rochester United Basketball until June due to work conflicts, played for Division I University of South Dakota. Chan briefly signed with Big Ten team Nebraska in 2018, before moving on to Indiana Hills Community College.

So, there's talent here and that talent definitely includes Adams, who had 27 points in the team's first game and sent the game into the second of two overtimes in a 143-138 loss to Cedar Valley (Iowa) on Sunday in Waterloo.

Cedar Valley was the Official Basketball Associations preseason favorite, according to Kenyi.

Adams enjoyed that first contest. But he was enjoying being a part of this team much before that happened.

"At the beginning, when I was going to the first few practices (which began in January), I didn't think I really wanted to play," Adams said. "But as I kept playing, the hunger came back."

Now that the team has a contest under its belt and a home opener slated for 7 p.m. Saturday against the Madison (Wis.) Mavericks at RCTC, Adams is hooked. That first look at how well things can go for his team in an actual game left him even more enthusiastic.

"I think we're really good," he said. "We gave that team (Cedar Valley) a real run for its money. I was playing well, but we have a lot of weapons coming off the bench and in our starting five. If I'm not having a good game, we've got five or six other guys who can do good things on the court."

The top player Sunday was Dominic Malith, a recent John Marshall graduate who didn't play basketball at JM. But Kenyi has found out that he sure can "play."

Unknown Malith looks great

Malith, an athletic 6-2 guard/forward, had 34 points and eight rebounds in the team's opener.

"I feel like the sky's the limit for Dominic," Kenyi said. "He's a guy who's just stuck around the gym and gotten better and better every year. He is a great athlete who can really (jump). A lot of these guys, they don't know what their next step is going to be (in basketball). A guy like Dominic, I'd like to bring him along and get him into a college."

In directing the Rochester United Basketball team, Kenyi is bringing himself along. Kenyi is not far removed from his own playing days, the 6-5 forward having played in junior college, two years at Mount Mercy University (Iowa), and then some stints playing in leagues similar to the Official Basketball Association.

But, Kenyi, a financial analyst at IBM and the father of two children — 3 and 10 months — is happily making the transition to coaching.

Kenyi is doing it partly while looking ahead to when his kids will be playing and knowing that he'll want to coach them.

But he's doing it while fully invested in what's in front of him right now. His goal is to get this Rochester United Basketball team to play as a team, and to help each player advance.

Kenyi does all of it knowing how much basketball has provided for him.

"Basketball has afforded me so much in my life," Kenyi said. "I was an at-risk kid growing up. My life could have gone either way. But basketball, it provided such a pivotal part to my life. And I've always wanted to coach. This is a great time to start coaching and get some games under my belt."

ROCHESTER UNITED BASKETBALL ROSTER

Name, high school (graduated)

Calvin Dixon, Mayo; Dominic Malith, John Marshall; Ray Adams, John Marshall; Talon Mercer, St. Charles; Mark Manyuon, Austin; David Penrose, Plainview-Elgin-Millville; Denis Paul, John Marshall; Dan Jech, Mayo; Tom Jorgenson, John Marshall; Sam Schultz, Plainview-Elgin-Millville; Christian Bance, Chatfield; Deonte Moore, John Marshall; Stuart Nezlek; Nate Yang, Dover-Eyota; Garrett Benson, Mayo; Dale Young; Dedoch Chan, John Marshall.

Head coach: Sam Kenyi, John Marshall. Assistant coach: Jordan Whitcomb.