New faces look to help Tigers defend conference title

Coming off one of the most successful seasons in the history of Cowley College men’s basketball, the Tigers will look to several new faces to continue their winning ways.

With just two returning players from last season’s 31-3 team, Cowley head coach Steve Eck is hoping to have the squad develop chemistry.

“I have never been in a situation like this in my 30 years of coaching,” Eck said. “It’s a new challenge, but we have some players that I feel good about and that I think can play for us.”

The Tigers’ 31 wins during the 2007-08 season broke the previous school-record for wins in a season set back in the 1952-53 season. Cowley also went 17-1 in the Jayhawk Conference Eastern Division, capturing its first outright conference title since the 1990-91 season.

However, Cowley lost all five starters from last year’s team to graduation. But, they do return sophomores Jack Crowder and Mike Atwater.

Crowder was the team’s top scorer and rebounder off the bench as he averaged 10.7 points and 5.6 boards per game. The 6-foot-4 sophomore will be counted on heavily.

“Jack is going to have to be able to play inside and outside for us,” Eck said.

Atwater, a 5-foot-6 point guard, gained valuable playing time as a freshman and finished the year with 53 assists and only 16 turnovers.

“Mike is doing a good job being a quiet leader and role model,” Eck said. “Jack and Mike both play hard.”
Eck and his assistant coaches brought in 13 new players to the program, six of which are from the Wichita area.

Adonis Gantt (5-11 point guard), who originally signed with Georgia Southern, averaged 14.7 points as a senior at Wichita Southeast. His high school teammate, Cortez Barnes Jr. (6-5 swingman), who averaged 12 points per game, joins him at Cowley.

Fellow Wichita East High School teammates Garrius Holloman (6-5 swingman) and Jawanza Poland (6-3 swingman) also signed with the Tigers. Holloman averaged 16.5 points as a senior, while Poland averaged 15 points per game.

Other Wichita area players are Lance Russell (6-3 shooting guard) of Wichita South, and Kenton Marshall (6-7 swingman) from Wichita Heights. Russell averaged 20 points per game, and Marshall poured in 15.8 points per contest.

Jordan Fields from Arkansas City is a 6-foot-2 guard that averaged 13 points as a senior. Leavenworth’s Caprist Rhone (6-1 combo guard), who averaged 17 points per game, rounds out the eight in-state players signed by the Tigers.

The Tiger coaching staff brought in some talented out of state players as well.
“We tried to get our height from out of state.” Eck said.

Robert Goff, a 6-9 freshman from Indianapolis, Ind., and Bernard Kamwa, a 6-8-post player originally from Cameroon, will provide the Tigers with some strength inside. Goff averaged 19 points and nine rebounds at Broad Ripple High School, while Kamwa averaged 15 points and eight boards at Genesis One in Mississippi.

Freshman Elijah Jones from North Palm Beach, Fla., has good post moves and averaged 19 points and seven rebounds at Palm Lake Beach High School. Raymond Chambers, a 6-6 forward from Chillicothe, Mo., is a good rebounder and defender. He averaged 18 points and seven rebounds as a senior at Chillicothe High School.

Dominique Lane, a 6-4 freshman from Kansas City, Mo., rounds out the Tigers recruiting class. Lane is capable of playing the one, two, or three positions. He averaged 21 points and six rebounds at Northeast High School.

“We have some good freshmen coming in, each one of them have different attributes” Eck said. “I look forward to putting them together as a unit and try to put the right mix together to be successful.”
With so many new players on the roster, there will be several starting positions up for grabs.
“They will be competing with each other, not against each other,” Eck said. “Our only competition comes from the teams we play.”

Defense is always a staple of coach Eck’s teams, so playing solid defense will once again be key to the Tigers’ success.

“We are going to have to be able to guard people,” Eck said. “Last year we had guys that could guard really well. We are also going to have to be able to grab the defensive rebounds. I will need the guards to rebound as well as my big guys.”

Cowley will play four exhibition games to gear up for the regular season.

“Right now they don’t have any idea how tough it is and how they have to compete every possession on the collegiate level,” Eck said. “We scheduled some tough exhibition games so these guys can find out it’s a different level of basketball.”

One thing that hurt the Tigers last season was a lack of depth. This year’s team should not have that problem, as there will be talented players ready to come off the bench.

“We have more depth than last year,” Eck said. “We need the guys coming off the bench to be as good as the guys that are starting.”

Going 17-1 in the Jayhawk East last season has made it to where the Tigers will have team’s gunning for them throughout the year.

“Our league schedule will not be easy, I think the (Jayhawk) East is going to be a good conference,” Eck said. “Every team will be out to get us.”

If the players can form team chemistry and learn their roles, the Tigers could have another exciting season ahead of them.

“We need the players to understand what kind of program we expect to have here,” Eck said. “We need to do the little things to be successful.”