Many basketball players hit a crossroads in their careers. AAlvin  Abreu's came just after he turned 16.

His high school team, Lynn Classical, was playing its fifth game of the season after winning the first four. The opponent on Boston's North Shore that night was Salem. The ugly collision nearly sidetracked a promising career before it got started.

Basketball fans know Abreu, now a starting guard at the University of New Hampshire, as one of the most exciting newcomers in America East. His 13.6 scoring average leads all freshmen, as do his 38 made 3-pointers.

But it was on that night that the seeds for his future were planted.

That was the night Abreu collided with Salem guard Erik Grosyk — who went on to play at Harvard — and popped the patella tendon in his leg, hitting the floor in agony.

"The doctors at the time said they weren't sure whether he'd ever be 100 percent," said Lynn Classical coach Tom Grassa.

During that junior year where the death of his father — Angel — dwarfed anything that happened on the court, Abreu had adversity in his face with both arms outstretched.

And shot over it.

"It was a motivational point for me because a lot of people never thought I'd play basketball again," he said. "The injury was kind of a critical point in my basketball career. I could have either folded or worked hard."

He worked hard. And UNH fans are glad he did.

Since conference play began, the 6-foot-2 Abreu has scored 14, 20, 20, 18, 13 and 15 points. The frisky 'Cats (5-12, 2-3 AE), who host Binghamton tonight, have played the iron of the league and been in every game but one. Only junior guard Tyrece Gibbs has played more minutes.

Even his coach is impressed. Occasional bad shots and all.

"It's hard for me to get mad at a kid like Alvin Abreu," said UNH coach Bill Herrion, who can be spartan in his praise. "He played 40 minutes (in a recent game). He could go out and play 40 more at 4 o'clock if there was another game. That's how he is and he's going to be a great player here."

Abreu's never lacked for work ethic, on the court or off. He graduated from Lynn Classical with a 3.5 grade-point average, even if it seemed like he never put the ball away.

"You'd have to practically kick him in the ass to get him out of the gym," said Grassa. "After practice I'd say, 'Ten minutes and lights out.' He was the one who'd say, 'No, coach. Not yet.'"

Because of the injury, Abreu didn't play AAU ball before his senior year, a critical time for players seeking college scholarships. Like going on American Idol with laryngitis.

A high school graduate at age 17, he ended up doing two postgraduate years — the first at Gunnery Prep in Connecticut, where the level of competition was not as high as he had hoped.

He did a more fulfilling one at Boys to Men Academy in Chicago, where his teammates included Mac Koshwal (DePaul) and Clarence Holloway (Louisville) and his coach — Loren Jackson — pushed all the right buttons.

"(Jackson) brought stuff out of my game that I didn't know I had," said Abreu. "He was always real with me."

"A lot of kids do prep school for different reasons," said Grassa. "They're (academic) partial qualifiers. But Alvin, coming out of Classical, could have gotten into a lot of good schools. He had a 3.5 GPA and there was no garbage in his schedule."

UNH, which had all kinds of available scholarships after last year's mass exodus of players, tracked him down when Boys to Men came to Rhode Island for a tournament last winter. Its commitment, and guaranteed playing time, was enough to move it to the head of the recruiting pack.

"A lot of schools said they were interested but they weren't offering," said Abreu. "I liked what I had on the table (from UNH). They offered a great opportunity to step in and produce right away."

With a lineup thinned by an injury (forward Radar Onguetou), an academic situation (forward Rony Tchatchoua) and last year's flight, Abreu might be playing more than any freshman in the country. Three times in the last six games he's been on the floor for 40 minutes, and he's averaging more than 30.

"He's everything I love in a player," said Herrion. "Tough. Kind of a bulldog. Just plays. Competes."

His chiseled body dates back to that high school injury. Never one for weightlifting, he changed his tune when his orthopedic surgeon told him it could accelerate his recovery.

With the Wildcats' other promising freshmen, Abreu has helped bring a new, resilient attitude to a team that hasn't enjoyed a winning season since 1994-95. If fans aren't salivating over a backcourt of Abreu and Tyrone Conley for the next 3½ years, they should be.

"In the past, there's been kind of a somber mood in here," said senior forward Mike Christensen, who's averaging 12 points and a team-high 6.4 rebounds. "A loss would affect us more. Now we feel, no matter what happened before, that we should win every game."

One final tidbit on Abreu: In both the seventh and eighth grade, he was cut from his junior high team. Read into that what you want.

"It's a little bit like the Michael Jordan story, except Alvin is not a pro," said Grassa. "A lot of kids will get cut and get disillusioned. He continued to work his tail off."

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