Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: THURSDAY, February 27, 1992 TAG: 9202270366
SECTION: NEIGHBORS PAGE: S1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: BOB TEITLEBAUM SPORTSWRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Long
STYLES OF THEIR OWN
EVEN though people compare Patrick Henry's Troy Manns and Jonas Callis to a couple of players off the 1988 Group AAA champion Patriots, these two have styles of their own.Manns is on the verge of breaking the school's season assist mark of 190 set by Percy Covington four years ago when he played point guard and guided the Patriots' offense. Unlike Covington, who is now a senior at Virginia Military Institute, Manns also looks to score rather than just serve as the team's playmaker.
"I really don't try to pattern myself after him. He's his own player, and I have my own style," said Manns, who added that Patriots' coach Woody Deans has compared him with Covington.
Callis is most often compared to 6-foot-7 Russell Turner, the center of that Patrick Henry team. Turner, now a star at Hampden-Sydney in the Old Dominion Athletic Conference, was the only white player on the 1988 PH team, and Callis is the only white player on this year's squad. Except for their height, which is the same, the two aren't really that much alike.
"I've heard the comparison a lot from Coach Deans, my dad [Tracy Callis] and others," said Jonas Callis.
"We're different players. He took it to the basket harder, but he didn't dribble as much. I like to drive, and sometimes Coach Deans thinks I drive too much."
One thing the two would like have in common with their predecessors is the state championship run made by the 1988 squad. This year's team, like the '88 squad, had one loss going into the tournaments and had won the Arby's Classic in Bristol, Tenn.
Deans moved Manns to the varsity midway through his sophomore year.
"I saw the same movement that I saw in Percy," Deans said. "I really thought Troy had the potential to be a great point guard."
Callis was already on the varsity when Manns moved up, but he hadn't played because he sat out half the year with a broken bone in his foot. He injured his foot playing AAU ball the summer before he was a sophomore.
"Last year, Jonas was probably a year behind because of his sophomore year. He showed signs of coming around at the end of the season," said Deans.
You might say Manns and Callis are the two extremes on the Patriots. Manns, at 6-foot-1, is the smallest of PH's main players while Callis is the tallest.
Manns' size, which is good for his position, also determined his basketball status.
"I've always played point guard. In pick-up games, I was the smallest one on the court so I played point guard," he said.
His passes are so sharp that PH players run the risk of missing the ball if they aren't concentrating. He has 174 assists this year and needs only 17 more to set a school record.
"I used to play with Alvin Howard and Dontel Arrington [who played guard for William Fleming], and they taught me how to pass," said Manns.
Before the season Manns signed early with George Mason of the Colonial Athletic Conference. Had he waited and gambled, Manns might have attracted the attention of a more notable Division I school, but he's not second guessing his decision.
"I planned on signing late. But I didn't have that big a reputation. If I waited anything could happen. I could get hurt," said Manns.
"I'm real comfortable with the decision. When you're young, you think about the ACC and Big East. As you move on, you're more realistic about what you're capable of doing. The ACC and Big East weren't in the picture for me. So I took the next best thing."
Callis is a John Madden-type player on the basketball court. He won't come up with any grass stains, but he is workmanlike and thinks nothing of risking life and limb to get the job done.
After breaking his foot, Callis went unscathed until last week when he dove for a ball and injured his nose. This week in practice, Callis wore a protective mask.
"He's a tough kid who takes a lot of beating," Deans said. "He gets banged up. He's had stitches. For a big man, he gets on the floor after the ball. He's a blue-collar type player."
Callis is the team's second-leading scorer with a 13.6 average and leads the team in rebounding with just over eight points per game.
Despite his size and tendency to go toe-to-toe with anyone on the court, Callis stayed away from football.
"I played football when I was little. I played on the line. My father [who was a standout at old Jefferson High] wanted me to stick with basketball," he said.
"His main sport was football, and my main sport is basketball. He knew how much he got hurt playing football and thought I ought to concentrate on basketball."
But, Callis, who expresses little emotion on court, said: "I get nervous before games. Before the warmups when the junior varsity game is going on, I start thinking about how I perform and what happens if the team doesn't play well."
Last year, Callis got better and better as the season progressed. "He's really come on now to where he shows confidence," Deans said.
Manns added: "The biggest difference is that he's aggressive and goes to the boards. Also, he lost a lot of weight."
Callis is 15 pounds lighter than two years ago and at one time was down 20-25 pounds. "He had put on a whole lot of weight after injuring his foot," Deans said.
As for college, Callis is looking at schools from Division III to Division I. Unlike Manns, his future is undecided, but if this year's an indication, Callis should have a lot basketball ahead of him.