CLARION, Pa. (EYT) — Youth rules the day for the Clarion University men’s basketball team as it opens its season Friday and Saturday in North Carolina.
(Photo: Cameron Grumley. Photo courtesy of Clarion University)
The Golden Eagles, who play at Winston-Salem State Friday and at Fayetteville State Saturday, have just two players who played for them last season — Cameron Grumley and RJ Laugand — and two others who played for them in the past few seasons but not last year — Brandon Williams and Kyheim Hall — but nine newcomers including six freshmen and a sophomore.
“We are very young,” Clarion’s fourth-year head coach Marcess Williams said. “And we feel it a little bit in practice. There is a lot more teaching going on than in years past. But it makes the job fun. I’m excited about that.”
A year after making the PSAC Playoffs, Clarion struggled last season going 7-21 overall and 4-18 in the PSAC West while not winning a game away from Tippin Gym, going 0-13 on the road and 0-1 at a neutral site. That coupled with the youth on the team has the Golden Eagles picked to finish ninth in the nine-team PSAC West.
“I understand why we are picked where we are,” Williams said. “We are young, and you don’t win in this league with young guys, typically.”
Williams says he sees a lot of similarities in this year’s team to his first Golden Eagles team in 2014-15 that was picked to finish at the bottom of the conference with Williams not even being hired until October despite former head coach Ron Righter resigning over the summer. That team surprisingly won 10 games going 10-16 overall and 7-15 in the PSAC West.
“This team is very similar to that first team,” Williams said. “We have upgraded in some spots and we are the same in some spots.”
Grumley, a Johnsonburg graduate, is going to have to step into a leadership role this season even if he is not the prototypical vocal lead.
A year ago, Grumley, a guard, led NCAA Division II in free-throw shooting percentage at 95.2 percent (80 of 84) while averaging 13.4 points per game, which was third on the team, 4.4 rebounds per contest and 3.3 assists per game.
“Cam’s leadership is on display through his play,” Williams said. “It is contagious. He plays so hard. The young guys see how hard he competes. He hasn’t changed since Day One. He plays with a high motor, and, hopefully, that rubs off on the young guys.”
Brandon Williams and Hall give Clarion experience in players who have both played for Marcess Williams but who weren’t members of the team the last couple of seasons.
Brandon Williams played in 20 games with 13 starts during the 2014-15 season, Marcess Williams’ first season and averaged 7.1 points, 2.6 rebounds and 1.4 assists per game while coming up with 30 steals. After the season, Williams left Clarion and went to another school before returning to the Golden Eagles prior to last season and redshirting.
Hall was also on the 2014-15 team and played in 26 games with 22 starts. He was third on the team in scoring at 12.3 points per game and led the team in rebounding at 6.2 per contest. He also left the team prior to the following season but is now back two years later.
“Having both of them plus RJ Laugand (the C-L product Laugand played in 25 games last year with three starts averaging 1.6 points per game) helps the room,” Marcess Williams said. “They understand me and what we want out on the floor. They get it. That helps out. But none are vocal leaders. That is where they and Cam have to work. All four play hard, know what we want and what we need. That is a blessing on getting our message across to the other players.”
A newcomer who could have an immediate impact is 6-foot-3 junior guard Kuante’ Sargent from Baltimore and a transfer from Manor Junior College
Sargent averaged 20.7 points per game for Manor last season while hitting 75 3-pointers and shooting 50.1 percent from the floor and 43.1 percent from beyond the arc.
“He can really score the ball,” Marcess Williams said. “He scored in junior college and he scored in our three scrimmages. He has been very good on offense.
“But, he struggles on defense. We are working on getting him up to speed on defense. It is a learning curve for him.”
Defense could be key for the Golden Eagles this year, as Marcess Williams is planning on getting Clarion back to the full-court, trapping, run-and-gun style that he brought with him from Penn State Beaver and used in his first year at Clarion before going to a more tradition half-court set the last two seasons.
“What happened is we had a really good recruiting class after that first year and all of sudden found ourselves as one of the bigger teams in the league,” Marcess Williams said as why Clarion switched to the half-court sets. “Then, last year, I think we were in between but we had a horrible season.
“After last season, I realized we don’t want to play any other way than how we feel comfortable playing. We are going to put pressure back and run. We are playing a lot faster through our three scrimmages. Again, we are a younger team, and I’m not sure how ready we are to play that style but we are going to fight.”
Marcess Williams said the stalemate on the Tippin Gym renovation project, he was told when he was hired as head coach that the project might be done by this time but instead it hasn’t even started, makes it a challenge to recruit.
“I would lie to you if I didn’t say it impacts us,” Williams said. “It was something that was talked about when I was hired. It’s hard not to address that in the room. However, when building a program we want kids who want to get better every day, compete in the classroom and on the court. Yes (not having the building yet hurts) but if that is all the kid (we are recruiting) wants then we don’t want that kid anyway.”
CHARITY STRIPE
