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Source: The Santa Fe New MexicanDec.迷你倉 19--Sometimes, the difference is just in a point guard.In the final weekend before Christmas, eight boys and girls basketball teams each will clash in the Ben Luj嫕 Tournament at Pojoaque Valley High School. The headliner for Thursday night will have the host Elks playing the up-and-coming Monte del Sol Dragons at 7 p.m.There are a lot of improvements to Monte del Sol that has it sitting on a 4-1 record, but the most noticeable difference from last year's 10-17 team is the growth of junior point guard Omar Ndiaye.Through five games this year, Ndiaye is the Dragons' leading scorer with an average of 19 points per game. That is a big upgrade from the 4.7 average from a season ago. Ndiaye is better at finding the bottom of the net so far this season, but his scoring ability isn't the biggest improvement.It was the improvement to his ball handling that has made the biggest change. Well, it's not relying on his ball handling as much that has made the difference."This year he has gotten wiser and he's learned to not dribble through 30 people and just pass off," Monte del Sol head coach Nick Rivera said. "He understands that you can't dribble through people."And passing leads to scoring, and not just for Ndiaye."For me, points aren't everything," he said. "Being a point guard, you have to have assists. I want to involve the whole team too."Ndiaye would know what it takes to be a good point guard. He was born without a lower right arm, but that didn't stop a 6-year-old Ndiaye from falling in love with basketball. After meticulously practicing on his dribbling, Ndiaye developed the skills he needed to run the backcourt."When I first started playing basketball, point guard just came naturally to me," he said.When the dribbling ability was mastered, then all the other skills that make for a good point guard started to come around too, giving Rivera no hesitations about making him his starting point guard."He sees the court well, he's a good penetrator and he knows when to [pass] the ball out," Rivera said. "He fits into that poinself storage guard spot."Ndiaye's unique style of play doesn't just make an impression on his coach. When opposing teams realized that Ndiaye was a threat, they would really start to turn up the heat on defense."They would get on him and press him, and we would have problems," Rivera said.At first, Ndiaye had no answer for the increased pressure until he came up with a little move that incorporates his right arm."It's like a quick crossover," he said. "When the defender comes in I take it to my right then go back left."Rivera praises Ndiaye for his ability to beat opponents with his quick first step, which is a skill Ndiaye may have mastered playing another sport.In the fall, Ndiaye played soccer for the first time. He was originally a goalie for the Dragons, but he was eventually moved to the mfield. It was there that he improved his quickness."That helped with my footwork, and I was really glad that that happened," Ndiaye said. "Last year I wasn't as fast, so all the agility things we did in soccer actually helped."All of the skills that Ndiaye has acquired over the years has turned him into a complete basketball player, one who can score and help others score. They have also made him quite the spectacle."It's like a work of art when he's on the court," junior Ryan Vanderham said. "You can't predict him. You never know what he's going to do. People underestimate him at first, but I think he surprises them when they see him play. When they try their hardest on him, he always finds a way to beat people and get that first step."All of the improvements that Ndiaye made reflect the improvements of a team that believes it can finish near the top of District 2AA, a place where the Dragons were at the very bottom last year."Monte del Sol was always known as a weak basketball school, and now we're finally putting our name out there," Ndiaye said.That is all thanks to a little improvement.Copyright: ___ (c)2013 The Santa Fe New Mexican (Santa Fe, N.M.) Visit The Santa Fe New Mexican (Santa Fe, N.M.) at .santafenewmexican.com Distributed by MCT Information Services迷利倉