There is no mention of him in the team's media guide for this season. Until recently, his name didn't appear on the roster on the university's Web site.

But since the first part of January, Kenny Johnson has been making a name for himself on the California University of Pennsylvania men's basketball team.

"I was like the phantom or something," said Johnson, who graduated from Beaver Falls in 2003. "Nobody knew much about me when I first started here."

It's a good bet it didn't take opposing coaches long to figure out that the guy coming off the bench wearing uniform No. 4 was a pretty good player.

Since joining the team for the second semester, Johnson has become an important part of California's guard rotation. He has played in 20 contests, starting one, and is averaging 4.9 points a game with 39 assists and 24 steals.

He has helped California, which defeated Millersville, 64-52, in the NCAA Division II East Regional Tuesday night, to a 28-5 record and a spot in the NCAA's Elite Eight Wednesday through March 28 in Massachusetts. The Vulcans will play Alaska Anchorage at 2:30 p.m. Wednesday.

While Johnson, a 6-foot guard, isn't the main reason the Vulcans won the Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference title, he has had his moments.

In a PSAC semifinal at Cheyney, Johnson scored 24 points. He made all eight of his field-goal attempts in that game, including four from 3-point range. Against Clarion March 4 he scored 11 points and handed out six assists in an 82-66 win.

"I'm just so proud of him because he never stopped, he never quit on what he wanted to do," Beaver Falls coach Doug Biega said.

After high school, Johnson didn't immediately go to college. He ended up at Ferrum College in Virginia for the 2004-05 school year after then-coach Scott Shepherd's mother-in-law, a secretary at Beaver Falls High School, matched the player with the school.

Johnson was an immediate success. He averaged 15.9 points and 6.3 assists as a freshman, tops on the team in both categories. All seemed perfect, then Shepherd left Ferrum for another job. Johnson decided he didn't want to stay in Virginia.

He returned home and kicked around before playing the second half of the 2006-07 season for the Community College of Beaver County team. That's where California coach Bill Brown saw him play.

"I was supposed to go here in the fall, but I had to stay [at CCBC] for another semester to get some grades in order," Johnson said.

He stayed in shape during that time by working out at the Beaver County YMCA and by helping out at practices at Beaver Falls a couple days a week.

For some players, joining a team midway through the season would be tough. There are new plays to learn, teammates' likes and dislikes to become familiar with. Johnson didn't have any problem fitting in.

"It was [harder] offensively, but not defensively," Johnson said. "I just went out and played my role and didn't try to do too much."