Players come to school’s aid

SEATTLE – Ray Allen and Rashard Lewis didn’t hesitate to combine their efforts to help restock Cleveland High School’s basketball program when the teens’ equipment was stolen.

But even a school assembly on Friday to highlight their donation wasn’t without talk of the Seattle SuperSonics ownership situation and the team’s tenuous future in Seattle.

While Allen, Lewis and the Sonics presented a check for $4,000 to the school to replace equipment, and Allen unveiled a prototype of the new uniforms for the Seattle high school, students in the small gymnasium held signs saying “Keep Our Teams Here,” keeping the Sonics and Seattle Storm’s future never far from mind.

The school was burglarized Sept. 5 and about $7,000 in uniforms and equipment belonging to the boys basketball program was stolen. Cleveland is being temporarily housed in a junior high school in the West Seattle neighborhood, while renovations are made to the original 1927 building on Beacon Hill.