LOWELL SUN:  M-Basketball - Patient approach working for Gore
By Chaz Scoggins, Sun Staff

LOWELL (February 11, 2008) -- It's true. Good things come to those who wait. Michael Gore can testify to that.

In addition to patience, long-range planning and preparation are also important. Gore can testify to that, too.

And now, as his college basketball career winds down, Wilmington's Gore, a former Shawsheen Tech star, finds himself in the starting lineup for UMass Lowell and playing well.

Gore, a recruited walk-on by UML coach Ken Barer, got into only 19 games during his freshman and sophomore years, usually at the end of one-sided games. He scored only nine points in those two years.

Of course, the River Hawks had one of the top Division 2 teams in the country then, and Gore understood why his minutes were extremely limited.

Last season, as the River Hawks began to rebuild their team, he got into 20 games but started only two and averaged just three points a game.

"I'm sure there was a lot of frustration for him last year," Barer said. "We had a young team, we wanted to see exactly what we had, and we struggled to find our way."

Gore's minutes picked up dramatically this season, and when injuries decimated the team, he finally got a chance to start.

Gore has started nine straight games and averaged 11.9 points in them, including a career-high 20-point game in a 54-47 victory over American International and a 19-point effort in a 59-53 win over Le Moyne last Saturday. The 6-6, 215-pound forward has shot 51.7 percent from the floor in those nine games, including hitting 9 of 24 shots from three-point range.

"There has always been jump to his game," Barer said. "We have a saying around here: 'Gore Can Score.' He's getting a good shot now. He's being counted on, and he wants the responsibility.

"He has a knack for scoring," Barer continued, "and back when he used to battle with Stacey Moragne in practice, there were times when he just gave it to him. And don't think the other guys didn't let Stacey know about it!"

Gore refined his long-range shooting at Shawsheen Tech, where he was a three-time All-Commonwealth Conference center and two-time MVP, as well as a two-time Sun All-Star.

"Ron Nowakowski, my coach, worked with me on my outside shot, and when I went up against somebody bigger than me, I'd just step back and shoot because they wouldn't come out to guard me," Gore said.

That's the same approach he's been using at UML against more athletic Northeast-10 Conference players.

"He's not as big, quick, or strong as a lot of the guys he's playing against," Barer said. "But he's learned how to use his skills, and he's put together a nice little game.

"And if you do come out and guard him, he has learned enough to trick you and beat you inside."

Gore has always been smart enough to be cognizant of his limitations and plan out his life accordingly.

"As a kid, everyone wants to play in the NBA," he admitted. "But after awhile you realize that is far fetched.

"It was always a goal to play college basketball, and it was tough when I wasn't playing much," he said. "I'd come in from a long day of classes and not being on the floor was tough. But I couldn't see myself going to school and not playing basketball."

Although getting a college degree and working in the field of computers was always in his plans, Gore decided to attend Shawsheen Tech instead of Wilmington High. Shawsheen would give him a head start in the computer field.

"I knew what field I wanted to go into, and at Shawsheen Tech I could also learn a trade," he explained. "If all else failed, I would still have a trade to fall back on."

Gore is majoring in management information systems at UMass Lowell.

"The most important thing was find a school I could play at that also had my major. It was between here and Salem State at the end," Gore said.

"But I thought, 'I'm only going to play four more years of basketball, so why not play it at the highest level I could?' This league is always compared to the ACC of Division 2. There are some phenomenal teams in this league (including undefeated Bentley, the nation's top-ranked team), and while it has been difficult, it's also been fun."

The difficulty was finding playing time, especially his first two years while UML was compiling 18-10 and 21-10 records and making the NCAA Tournament his sophomore year.

"I was playing behind some great players. I was behind Stacey Moragne," he said, referring to the NE-10's Player of the Year in 2005-06. "When I was a sophomore we went to the Sweet Sixteen, even though I didn't see the floor.

"But I learned a lot from the guys and the coaching staff."

Gore's willingness to learn and coachability has made him a Barer favorite.

"It gets more and more difficult to find athletes who are confident yet realistic in their expectations, and the ones who aren't are hard to coach," Barer admitted. "Mike took the coaching very well."

And now Michael Gore's patience and persistence is being rewarded.