Toughness, passion define Carpenter

LINK



Excerpt:

FAYETTEVILLE - Jamel Carpenter's biggest contribution in Fayetteville State's 65-58 win over Saint Paul's College on Jan. 4 wasn't in the scoring column.

With FSU up four with less than one minute remaining in the game, Carpenter's shot was blocked by SPC's Ibn-Saeed Rasoull.

Instead of sulking, Carpenter sprinted to the other end of the floor and knocked the ball away from the Tigers' Kwame Johnson giving FSU the ball and preserving its first CIAA win of the season.

The play was emblematic of Carpenter, a 6-foot-4 scoring machine who has taken the CIAA by storm in his first year at FSU.

"I have a big heart and I don't like to lose," said Carpenter. "All I know is to go hard. The area where I'm from, they breed people who believe in that mentality - just go hard."

Carpenter leads the conference in scoring, averaging 22.2 points per game. The Salisbury, N.C. native also ranks in the top six in the league in free-throw percentage (86.6 percent), rebounds per game (7.7) and three-point field goals made per game (2.2).

"One of my favorite players is LeBron James," Carpenter said. "He plays all across the board and I always have that mentality. I don't want to be a one-area guy. I like to do it all. Rebounding comes from the heart, free throws come from concentration and making shots comes from constantly working out."