April 24, 2004

Asheville, N.C - Former St. John's standouts Erick Barkley and Lavor Postell will meet tonight in the 2004 NBDL Championship game at 7:15 p.m in Asheville, N.C. Barkley will lead the Huntsville Flight against Postell and the Asheville Altitude.

Barkley was selected by the Portland Trail Blazers in the 2000 NBA draft with the 28th pick in the first round. He played for the Trail Blazers in the 2000-01 and 2001-02 seasons. In 2001-02, he appeared in 19 games, averaging 3.1 points and 1.8 assists in 12.0 minutes a contest. Postell was selected in the second round of the draft, taken by the New York Knicks with the 39th pick overall. He played for the Knicks for 3 seasons (2000-03). In 2002-03, he appeared in 12 games, averaging 3.6 points and 0.3 rebounds in 8.2 minutes a contest.

This season in the NBDL, Barkley averaged 12.9 points a game, 3.8 assists and 1.8 steals. Postell was only with the Altitude for 17 games and averaged 6.0 points, 3.0 assists and 3.0 rebounds per game. Last week in Barkley's semi-final game against the Charleston Lowgators, he scored 33 points in just 24 minutes of play to lead the Flight to the Championship game.

Postell left St. John's with 1,413 career points, which ranks 15th on the all-time scoring list. He was the recipient of the BIG EAST Scholar Athlete of the Year Award as a senior. Postell, whose scoring and rebounding numbers increased during each of his four years on campus, as a senior he finished third on the team in scoring with 14.3 points per game, led the team in rebounding 6.9 and free throw shooting (.809) and was a second-team All-BIG EAST selection. As a junior, he averaged 13.1 points per game and 6.4 rebounds and was named to the NCAA South Regional All-Tournament team.

Barkley is a member of the 900-point club, scoring 948 points in his two season career at St. John's, he averaged 14.6 points, 4.6 assist and 2.5 steals per game. In his second year at St. John's, Barkley, was a first-team All-BIG EAST 2000 selection and Associated Press honorable mention All-American. He led the Red Storm to a 25-8 record and to the team's first BIG EAST Championship since 1986 and a No. 2 seed in the NCAA Tournament. Despite missing five games this season, he led the Red Storm in scoring 16.0 points per game, assists averaging 4.5 assists per game and steals with 3.0 steals a game, which ranked 12th in the NCAA. As a freshman, Barkley was a BIG EAST All-Rookie team selection and named to the NCAA South Regional All-Tournament team after guiding the Red Storm to the Elite Eight.