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PSA’s Dean:
‘It’s about
the team’
Back in September, Arturo Dean was hearing it from one of his PSA teammates who was playing opposite him during a preseason open gym session. When the winning point was scored, the opposing player repeatedly barked at Dean that he had only scored one point in the game.
“But my team won,” Dean responded. “My team won.”
That response was quick and to the point and perfectly summed up what Arturo Dean, a postgrad from Miami, Fla., means to the Mustangs.
“I don’t care about the points,” he said. “I just try to let the game come to me and not force anything. At my old school I was The Man, but I learned very quickly here that everybody’s talented and it’s not all about you. We have so many skillful people and once I saw the roster and saw it in practice how talented we are, I realized it’s not all about me. It’s about the team. Everything I do is team, team, team.”
Dean then pours that mindset into his teammates. He is the loudest and most energetic player at every practice, and he is helping some teammates get out of their comfort zones to match what he does. It is intentional, too, as at a recent practice he half-jokingly lamented how the day was going to go by so slow, but then 10 minutes later told a teammate that “energy will make it go by faster.”
“He’s a leader,” said PSA coach Tom Espinosa. “I’ve always believed in this and I’ve always said this: When you have leaders in the locker room and the players don’t have to listen to the coach all the time, those leaders can give the message, that’s when special things happen. I felt like we had leaders in 2020, and in 2018 there is no doubt we had leaders. And those two years, we won national championships. This year we have a lot of leaders as well, and Arturo is clearly one of them.”
The 6-foot guard is no slouch on the court either. In PSA’s first two games, Dean he totaled 35 points, nine steals, seven assists, and seven rebounds. More importantly, the Mustangs went 2-0.
In the opener on Nov. 5, Dean set the tone, finishing with 20 points, six steals, five rebounds, and five assists in a 113-74 win over Lee Academy. Barry Evans added 17 points and nine rebounds, Taiga Jones drained five 3-pointers on his way to 15 points, and Darryl Simmons finished with 17 points.
The Mustangs opened the game on a 26-5 run and led by 20 at the half, then started the second half on a similar 22-6 run.
“We just wanted to come out and make a statement and bust them in the mouth every chance,” Dean said. “They slowed us down a little bit before the half, but we adjusted and kept our foot on the gas.”
Less than 24 hours later, PSA hosted Hoosac – a team it had manhandled in a preseason scrimmage – and followed a similar script. They scored the first 12 points of the game and had leads of 19-2, 39-9, and 50-16 at various points of the first half before finishing with a 111-68 victory.
Duane Thompson had a team-leading 19 points, Desmond Claude had 14 points, five rebounds, and five assists, and Josh Rivera finished with 11 points and five boards.
Because of the quick turnaround, Espinosa’s pregame message centered on bringing energy. He didn’t have to tell Dean twice.
“He’s a special kid. Holy cow,” Espinosa said. “He has all the energy in the world. The thing with Arturo, he comes out of the game (Saturday), we’re up by 40, and I hear him more than anyone else. And he’s telling others, ‘Energy, come on, clap, pick it up, stand up.’ He’s different. He’s special.”
By Stephen Nalbandian
Sports Information Director
Putnam Science Academy
.