HE KEEPS ON COMING
Lincoln product has overcome host of obstacles to help South Carolina to Sweet 16
Tanica Murchison — the mother of South Carolina freshman point guard Rakym Felder — was on Facebook the night before the Gamecocks were to play Duke.
“I live in Duke Country,’’ Murchinson told The Post. “Everyone I know on Facebook is a Duke fan. They’re all telling me, ‘ Duke this and Duke that. I told my son, Rakym, ‘You about to play Duke. They are tough.’ ’’
“He said, ‘Mom, Duke is just a basketball team,’ ’’ Felder said. “‘You think I’m worried?’ ’’
Felder is the latest mercurial point guard to come out of Lincoln High School. At the age of 19, Felder has known a life so traumatic it would take an entire hour of “60 Minutes” just to outline his story.
“Of all the kids I’ve known and coached, Rakym has had the toughest road,’’ Lincoln assistant coach David Leon said. “The kid’s a miracle.’’
The Miracle was shot in May 2015 in the right hip, the victim of a stray bullet while waiting at a bus stop in Fulton Mall after returning home from a game.
“There were some bikes chained up to the pole I tried to jump over,’’ Felder said. “I couldn’t jump for some reason. Then I just fell on the floor. I kept hearing shots. I got up. I j ust started walking. I got in a cab and next thing I’m sitting in the cab and I feel blood leaking down my shorts. I’m like, ‘What?’ ’’
“I go to check myself. I see a hole on my hip. I told the cabdriver, ‘Could you drop me off at the hospital?’ The cabdriver, he still asks me $20. Twenty dollars? I’m like, ‘I just got shot.’ ’’
The Miracle returned to the court but couldn’t play in the 2016 PSAL championship game because he suffered a broken foot.
The Miracle has no relationship with his father yet when he was at Lincoln and babysat Leon’s little boys — Dylan, now 8, and Isaiah, 13 — it was a Hallmark moment.
Felder has two mothers: Murchison, his biological parent who is black and deserves a medal for sacrifice, and Kacy Fletcher, his guardian who is white and took in Felder when he moved to the Carolinas for six years to try to escape the dead-end streets of Bed-Stuy, and deserves a medal for altruism.
“His AAU coach asked me if I could take a kid from Brooklyn for a weekend,’’ Fletcher said. “I didn’t know anything about him.
“But it was clear he was looking for love and consistency. I said, ‘ You can stay as long as you want as long as you abide by the rules.’ ’’
His oldest brother, mentor, and the closet male Felder had to a father figure, Devontay Grace, is in prison trying to mount an appeal on his attempted murder conviction.
In l ate October, Felder was arrested and, according to reports, tased by police in Columbia, S.C., when he stood up for a friend. He was charged with assault and resisting arrest. That cost Felder a one-game suspension and maybe a last chance. He applied for a pretrial intervention program, which usually involves community service and counseling for first-time offenders.
So back to the intimidation factor of playing Duke.
What do you think is more intimidating, a Blue Devil or a bullet?
“He’s f earl ess of t he moment,’’ said South Carolina coach Frank Martin, whose Gamecocks play Baylor on Friday night in the Garden in an East Region semifinal. “He loves the big stage.
“I needed a New York City point guard. I like New York City guards. That’s why I went and found Rakym.’’
Actually, Felder had found South Carolina long before Martin found Felder.
Murchison sent him to South Carolina to get him out of Bed-Stuy. He played a year at Indian Land High School in Fort Mill, S.C. He played his sophomore year at Lincoln.
He tried to make it at Sundance Academy in Kansas, but his temper reared up and Felder had to ship out. Wichita State wanted him in the worst way. He enrolled at the Patrick School in Elizabeth for his junior year.
He was back at Lincoln f or his senior year, broke his foot, and the Railsplitters lost to Jefferson for the city title.
On the court, the 5-foot-10, 210-pound point guard is a force, following in the footsteps of Sebastian Telfair, Lance Stephenson, and Isaiah Whitehead.
Off the court, Fletcher won’t leave a schoolyard if there’s a little kid alone. He wears No. 4 so his four brothers, two of t hem younger, know he cares.
Felder doesn’t start for the Gamecocks. But when games are on the line, as was the case when South Carolina was turning Duke blue in the face with its pressure defense, Felder is on the court.
His 15- point perf ormance against Duke, which included making 9- of-10 f ree t hrows with t hree assists and zero turnovers, has helped the Gamecocks go where they h ave n e ve r gone before — the Sweet 16.
How far has Felder come this season? In two games in the metropolitan area this season, Felder played a total of 11 minutes and posted one turnover.
In two NCAA Tournament games, ‘ Rah Rah,’ as Murchison calls him, has played 33 minutes, scored 22 points, grabbed six rebounds, posted three assists with no turnovers and grabbed one steal.
“I’ve been through a lot in my life,’’ Felder said. “I think it’s just been crazy. To be here now, I never thought this day would come.’’