HARVEY – Greg Monroe committed early and signed to play basketball at Georgetown in his senior season at Cox.

By Bradley Handwerger / WWL-TV.com

Greg Monroe, left, and Calvin Thompson play around before practice Wednesday. The two friends both will play college basketball in Washington, D.C.

Teammate Calvin Thompson signed with Howard, another Washington, D.C. area college.

That would seem to be a coincidence, until you listen to how Howard recruited Thompson.

“When I went up there for my visit, I wasn’t really thinking about Greg,” Thompson said. “But he was on my mind because that’s what the coach kept saying. He kept feeding that to me. He said, ‘Greg’s right here. He’s going to Georgetown. It’s only five minutes away.’ ”

So, for at least one more year, if not longer, Monroe and Thompson will remain close to each other. It’s something they’ve been used to for nearly a decade.

But right now, the two friends have only one thing on their mind – Friday’s 8 p.m. Class 4A state championship game against Westbank rival O. Perry Walker in Lafayette’s Cajundome.

That’s a long way from basketball courts at various city parks, when Thompson made sure he played with older teenagers and when Monroe went by the nickname Noodle.

“He was so goofy,” Thompson said. “He really couldn’t play basketball. He was tripping over his own foot. But as time progressed, he got better. He got real good.”

For both, basketball provided an activity that gave them direction. It also gave them a friendship that lasts until this day, one that helped Cox reach a final in only the school’s fourth year.

Monday night, Monroe and Thompson played vital roles in the Cougars’ comeback win from 17 points down. But neither the friends nor head coach Tyron Mouzon said the performance would be a defining moment for the two unless Cox wins Friday.

“You still have to win the game Friday,” Mouzon said. “It’ll be put down as a great performance as a team. It won’t be considered a total defining moment until they win Friday. If they win Friday, you can look back and say they stepped it up and helped them win a championship.”

Family life

Sure, Monroe is a 6-foot-10 forward who is rated as the top high school player in the country. And Thompson is 6-3 guard who got few looks from any major colleges.

But there is one common thread in their lives – their families.

“Their families really back them. Their parents support them,” Mouzon said. “They’re involved in the basketball program.”

Monroe’s mom works two jobs to support her and Greg, as well as his sister Brittany, who now attends Georgia State.

Thompson’s mom is a nurse and his father teaches at Higgins.

All three make it their jobs to make as many Cox games as possible.

“My mother has been everything,” Monroe said. “She’s working two jobs. She’s always strong. She was always tough on me and my sister.”

He added, “My mom raised me the right way.”

Said Thompson, “Mom, she got real supportive. She’d be at all my games. My father would be there trying to coach on the sideline. They’ve always been there.”

Those thoughts are reciprocal. As much as the two boys understand the support of their parents, they make their parents proud, as well.

“Oh lord,” Norma Monroe said. “I am just so proud of him. Sometimes, I be thinking of a word that would mean more than proud. It’s just endless. There’s no limitations to how proud of him I am.”

She never saw this success coming from her son.

“I never understood basketball,” she said. “I’m still trying to learn it to know what’s going on with him. But I really never imagined he’d get in the position he’s in, not to say that I had any doubts.”

For Jewel Thompson, the fact that her son is about to go play college basketball isn’t the thing she’s most proud of these days.

“He puts his academics first,” she said. “It’s important to him to do well. I stand behind him and try to instill that in him. That’s a guarantee, you’re education. Basketball, that’s always second. He’s always been pretty much a good student.”

Goofball ways

Traveling several hours away from home for college can be tough. But with both Monroe and Thompson being in the same town for college, their mothers at least will be comforted.

By Bradley Handwerger / WWL-TV.com

Calvin Thompson, left, tries to get the basketball from teammate and friend Greg Monroe, who at 6-foot-10, is playing keep away with the ball.

“It’s not like they can get in the car and drive home in two hours,” Jewel Thompson said. “They’ve both been away from home on basketball tournaments, but that’s nothing like moving away from home.”

Being in the same town might not be so bad. They can at least continue their goofball ways and know someone will get a kick out of it.

For Monroe, John Thompson III might be a little tougher on him than Mouzon. But for now, Mouzon’s clean-shaven head does the trick for humor.

After the team prayer, after timeouts, after big wins, Monroe always does the same thing. He palms his coach’s head.

“Because he’s so tall, and I’m so short, he likes to palm my head,” Mouzon said. “We have the level of respect where he understands he can do that and I’m not going to (get upset). But he understands if I tell him he needs to be serious.”

When asked if Thompson wishes he could grab Mouzon’s head, he laughed and shook his head no, saying he would leave that to his friend.

But Thompson has his own quirks. Like, say, his haircut.

“I didn’t know what he was doing,” his mom said. “He came home with a Mohawk and I just started screaming. He said, ‘Oh mom. That’s not that bad.’ Then he got worried. He said he wanted to do something for the playoffs. We laughed about it.”

The comeback win

But before they go off to the nation’s capital, they’ll have Friday night to remember. And they’re hoping it’s as memorable as Monday night was for anyone at the Cajundome.

No. 3 seed Carroll high broke out to a quick start, and kept up the pressure. By the midway point of the third quarter, if appeared the Cougars’ spirit was broken. With 1:15 to play in the quarter, Monroe hit a basket and the quarter ended with Cox down 47-32.

Several Cox players walked to the bench with their heads down. Those Cox supporters in attendance were silent.

Thompson wasn’t worried.

“I don’t think we ever got down on ourselves,” he said. “We’ve been through a lot this season. We wanted to win as seniors. Our teammates, they wanted to win.”

At the very least, Monroe said the team wanted to make the game respectable.

“I always was saying we still had eight minutes to go,” he said. “If anything, it was just about getting closer and not quitting.”

By the midpoint of the fourth quarter, Cox was squarely in the game, and so were the fans.

“I felt it in the minute of the quarter, when we got it down to 11 real quick,” Monroe said. “I said, ‘You know what, we’ve still got a chance.’ ”

And the rest is history.

Kind of like the relationship between Cox’s best two players.