Surgery slowing Rebels’ Kelly

Steve Addy

Friday, June 9, 2000 | 10:06 a.m.

The promotional slogan for Rebels basketball last season was "Rising to the Millenium," but the early leader for the coming season should be "Pins are In."

Lou Kelly and recruits Lafonte Johnson and Steve Scoggin are all mending from foot surgery, and each had a pin inserted to repair the fracture.

Kelly underwent right foot surgery two weeks ago, four months after team doctors opted against surgery, hoping his foot would heal on its own.

Though Kelly wasn't having pain after resuming running last month, X-rays still showed a slight gap in the fracture, so a pin was inserted by Dr. Gerald Higgins. Kelly will spend a month in a walking cast and is expected to be ready Aug. 1.

"There was a space in the bone when his foot healed, so the doctors decided to pin it," coach Bill Bayno said. "It happened at the right time of the year. We found out what he needed, and now his foot can start healing."

In January, Kelly played only two games for the Rebels before his foot injury was diagnosed. He spent the rest of the season in various casts, doing rehab with trainer Dave Tomchek. Now Kelly faces two more months of uncertainty, but Tomchek said having surgery now was "the best thing for Lou."

"We tried to let it heal the natural way," Tomchek said. "That wasn't a failure, but the doctors felt Lou would do better this way."

Kelly, projected as the Rebels' starting small forward, couldn't be reached for comment.

Johnson and Scoggin are coming back from similar injuries. Johnson, a 5-foot-9 point guard from Crispus Attucks Prep in York, Pa., had surgery last month and is already out of his cast. He'll arrive in Las Vegas next month.

Scoggin, a 6-foot-1 shooting guard from Santa Ana (Calif.) Mater Dei, is nearly at 100 percent, having had surgery in early April.

The NCAA cut summer evaluation in half this year and will eliminate it in 2001, but the NABC is hoping to come up with an alternate plan. Bayno isn't optimistic, however.