Allmond is A-OK

Ron Bailey, Publisher

Corey Allmond, in grey, with the core of Triple Threat's 17 and under AAU squad

June 6, 2006 – Corey Allmond, a 6’0” 180lb senior guard from Oxon Hill, MD has long been known in the Free State as a top performer. Possessing the ability to shoot, drive, defend, rebound, and set up teammates, Corey earned second team All-Met honors in the Washington, DC area, as well as first team All-Prince Georges County, MD considerations. During a recent interview, Allmond established his averages last season, at Gwynn Park High School, to be “about 23 points and 6 assists” a game”.

At Gwynn Park, Corey manned a combo guard position while playing varsity for three years, and led the team last season to a 17-3 on-court record (a number of victories were officially disallowed due to an issue with another player’s eligibility status), and an appearance in the regional playoffs. Dale DeBerry, an assistant coach at Gwynn Park last season was emphatic in his praise of Allmond, saying “He was the heart and soul of our team”, who was “a great competitor” with a “tremendous will to win”.

Allmond, in yellow Gwynn Park silks, applying perimeter ball pressure during the regional playoffs

After a fruitful senior season, Corey and his family decided that attending post-graduate prep school was in his best interest. Allmond indicated “In 9th and 10th grade, I struggled a little bit”, and as a result prep school will allow him to strengthen his academic skill set. It looks as if either Bridgton Academy, in North Bridgton, Maine, or the Patterson school in Lenoir, North Carolina will be the institution he attends.

As if to test his mettle, Allmond was then faced with a challenge. After a scrimmage in March, Corey unfortunately suffered a car accident, in which as he relayed, “The skin got peeled back over my knee cap”. There was no structural damage, so the emergency physicians applied seven stitches to secure his skin, and ordered him to bed rest “for about two weeks, with a knee brace on”.

During a follow up procedure, the stitches were removed, at which time he was told to gingerly ease into physical activity. Allmond was philosophical regarding the setback, saying “I think God was telling me to slow down. I wasn’t listening to my body, when it was saying it was tired”. This didn’t include partying or running the streets, but did pertain to playing an enormous amount of ball: According to him, there were times in which the young guy would enter the old Run and Shoot 24-hour hoops facility in District Heights, MD at 11am, and not emerge until 3 am the following morning, despite suffering from fatigue.

Using his immense love for the game in a productive manner, Corey has worked hard to rebound from the setback, and has even returned to competitive play, this time with the 17 and under Triple Threat AAU team. That organization, led by Keith Stevens, boasts a slew of future Division I players and a large number of talented coaches as well. Allmond feels “The coaches I’m with at Triple Threat are winners. You can’t slack” and that environment will do wonders for his development. In addition to Stevens, he identified the Smith Brothers – Curt and Charles – as Triple Threat coaches integral to his improvement.

Keith Stevens coaching 'em up

When asked about the young guy, Stevens believes Allmond "is a high major player” who Triple Threat “plans to bring back slowly”, adding to his existing strengths of “penetrating and upper body strength”, while improving upon his “decision making”.

That one of Corey’s strongpoints is getting to the cup is interesting, since that was not always the case, as the young guy shared “I was a pure shooter at first”. His early organized hoops experiences started at the Silver Hill Boys and Girls Club around six or seven years old, under the tutelage of Cyril Byron. Byron, who Allmond and other kids at Silver Hill call “Coach C.B.”, created a good foundation in Corey. “He taught me the game, discipline, and to know certain situations” Allmond revealed.

Those lessons were expanded by family members, including his father, Nathaniel McNeil and his uncles, including Keith McNeil. It was with Keith that the younger Corey “played with he and is friends” where of course he got “roughed up”.

It wasn’t until around eighth or ninth grade that Corey’s “ball handling and going to the rack a lot started”. Right before that, he was playing with the Baltimore Stars and Team Disciples. In ninth grade, as a Gwynn Park J.V. player, Allmond stated “I was lifting weights with the football team, and my shot went away”. To compensate, he started penetrating with a vengeance. Though it wasn’t as true as before, Corey didn’t disregard his jump shot, and to his benefit he noted “it came back around my junior year”.

Despite still rounding into basketball shape Allmond has recently shown he belongs with some of the best in the country on the court. At the recent Triple Threat Shootout, his first real competition back since the accident, Corey played well in route to his team’s championship title, running the team efficiently and letting the game come to him. He was truly on the controls in the tournament’s semifinals, where he supplied eight points in addition to an estimated nine assists in Triple Threat’s 81-59 victory over the South Jersey Jets. (click here for i95Ballerz.com coverage).

Allmond, here in Cameron Indoor Stadium, competing in the Gibbons Tournament of Champions

Subsequent to that, at the prestigious Bob Gibbons Tournament of Champions, Corey showed he was much closer to being back in top form. During a loss to the GC Ballers at Duke University’s Cameron Indoor Stadium, Allmond led all scorers with 22 points, while also dishing the ball and rebounding. Though Stevens was unhappy with his team’s overall performance in that contest, which he attributed to “arriving late and falling behind” to a good team before playing them even, Keith had no misgivings regarding Corey’s performance. “He was the reason we played tough” said Stevens. “In addition to his scoring, he was very vocal”, and resultantly displayed major leadership, in a time of crisis.

After this summer with Triple Threat, and the year in prep school, Allmond plans on playing Division I ball, and playing it well. The list of schools recruiting Allmond, which he supplied, is “George Mason, Buffalo, Jacksonville, and St. Bonaventure”. Stevens added “Charlotte, UNC Wilmington, and VCU” have recently joined the mix as well.

Things are good for Corey Allmond right now. He’s recuperating from his accident (Stevens pegged him at “75%-80%”effectivness, with “limited lateral movement”), improving his skills, and has even bonded with his Triple Threat coaches. This is particularly the case with Charles Smith, a former All-American at Georgetown University and professional player. “I feed off Charles Smith” he said, “who played well when he was unheralded (out of D.C.’s All-Saints High School in 1985). My name isn’t out there, like his wasn’t”.

That’s changing. Smith for one feels that Corey has a chance at playing professionally, just like he did. Whether that comes to pass or not, Allmond is showing he’s a player of note. Check him out with Triple Threat (click here for schedule) this summer. You’ll see.