THE IDEA was hatched in early September and Sean McLean, a carpentry major at Edward Bok Tech, worked feverishly deep into December.
And then, on Christmas morning, bursting with pride, he presented to his mom, Kellie Mack, a beautiful armoire. Fifty inches-by-50 inches. Two doors opening to several shelves. Perfect for some of her clothes.
"She liked it, but she gave it back to me," McLean said. "I guess her room already has too much stuff in it."
He paused, then laughed and added, "I knew she was going to do that. That was why I carved my name onto the top. It's in my room now."
Carpentry and academics (straight A's last report period) are not McLean's only strengths. The 6-3, 170-pound senior is also an impressive basketball player and Tuesday, in Public D, he totaled 16 points, nine rebounds and two blocked shots while leading Bok to a 63-48 win over visiting Mastery Charter South.
Not all of the Bulldogs were strangers. In fact, two were his cousins, Earl Patton-Boyd and Shaquan McPhaul-Barr.
"They're my younger cousins and I never let them beat me," McLean crowed. "Wasn't gonna happen today, either. They were talking a bunch of stuff leading up to the game. They didn't cover me at all, but I still had chances to talk to them.
"I was mostly talking to my teammates. They were kind of slacking off. Maybe the holiday break was too long with no games to keep us interested; we only had practice on Tuesday and Thursday. Not sure how much the other guys played on the outside, but me, I was playing non-stop, like always."
McLean lives on South Bucknell, near 24th and McKean, and the Wilson Park rec center is maybe 2 blocks away.
"That's where I am right now," he said last night at 7 o'clock, when reached via cell phone. "I'm always playing basketball. Or if I'm not playing, I'm watching every game on TV. My mom knows . . . if she needs to find me, this is where I am.
"I'm always trying to get better. You can never stay at one spot in your life, right? And I'm always getting good help from my brother, Jermaine Moore, and my uncles, Keith Mack and Lawrence Smith."
I-Meir Martin and Jihad Carter scored 12 points apiece for Bok while Martin (12), Deonte West (10) and Carter (nine) helped on the boards and Jaleel Bennett distributed five assists. For MCS, Steven Scott mixed 16 points and four steals and Maurice Hayward added seven rebounds to 11 points.
"We were missing one Jihad today," McLean said, referring to football star Jihad Ward, "and the other one stepped up real big."
While Moravian and Rosemont are hard on McLean, rookie coach Greg Frangipani is certain he's deserving of D-II looks, as well.
Long-range, McLean wouldn't mind making a living with carpentry.
"I do like doing that," he said. "And I'm pretty good at it. One thing we're making right now at Bok is a minihouse."
