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October 31, 2009

Roc likes what he’s seen thus far

By Bob West

BEAUMONT — With Lamar University’s Nov. 13 basketball season opener less than two weeks away, Cardinal coach Steve Roccaforte says he’s starting to zero in on who his top eight players are going to be. But he also backpedals by saying nothing is etched in zone because of the potential of newcomers still in the mix.

That several newcomers are in the mix is no surprise, since nine first-year players will be wearing Cardinal red. If the season started today, two of them — 6-1 JC guard Kendrick Harris and 6-4 JC Reggie Mathis — would be on the floor when the opening whistle blew.

They would line up with the veteran trio of 6-1 sophomore Anthony Miles, 6-6 senior Justin Nabors, who is returning after missing last season with knee and elbow injuries, and 6-8 senior Lawrence Nwevo, who also missed last season due a knee injury.

If you are wondering why 6-6 Kountze senior Ashton Hall, who started 28 games last year, isn’t among the top five, it’s because the injury bug has already bitten. Hall, in the midst of an impressive pre-season, went down with a strained knee and is expected to be on the shelf for three more weeks.

Two of the promising newcomers — 6-4 sophomore E.B. Davis and 6-0 freshman point guard Jonathan Garza — have been nursing lesser injuries. Roccaforte is expecting both of them to return to practice Monday.

Lamar is coming of a 15-15 season that was seriously disrupted by injuries. Nabors and Nwevo, as mentioned, never suited up and point guard Kenny Dawkins was never close to 100 percent because of foot injuries. The end results was a team that had its moments, but struggled to go 5-9 in conference play.

Roccaforte, as coaches always are this time of year, is enthused about his team’s potential. He got a vote of confidence, sort of, from athletic director Billy Tubbs Wednesday, after Tubbs watched a game-style scrimmage on media day.

“I thought what Billy had to say was right on target,” Roccaforte said. “He told me you have a chance to be really good, but this groups needs a tremendous amount of work.”

In addition to the projected starting lineup at this point in time, the next two players in line for significant minutes are 6-11 junior Coy Custer and 6-6 sophomore Charlie Harper. Both made significant strides last year, with Custer playing through a painful knee injury that needed surgery after the season.

“Coy’s better than he’s ever been and farther along than I ever expected him to be,” said Roccaforte. “He’s just improved by leaps and bounds. He showed me so much last year with the way he played through pain. Few people realize how much he was hurting.”

Where Custer fits in with Lamar’s new look remains to be seen. Roccaforte’s recruits are built for speed and the Cardinal coach thinks he has the talent, depth and athleticism to play a pressuring, 94-foot game geared to forcing mistakes and scoring quickly. A faster pace, though, is not Custer’s style.

Nwevo wouldn’t have fit into that mold in the past, but the Nigerian has trimmed down to a svelte 249 pounds and is in the best shape of his career. In the scrimmage before area media, he didn’t have any trouble getting up and down the floor with Roc’s greyhounds.

“Lawrence has sort of taken up where he left off last year before he got hurt,” Roccaforte said of the fifth-year senior. “I think people are going to be pleasantly surprised with what they see of him.”

Nwevo will be lining up alongside another fifth year senior — counting Hall the Cardinals have three — in Nabors. How well he rebounds from last years devastating injuries will certainly play an integral role in Lamar’s success.

Nabors, who averaged 11.2 points and 6.4 rebound as a junior, says he’s about 90 percent of what he was two years ago, but is improving every day. Roccaforte won’t put a percentage on how far back Nabors has come, and says the coaches have to monitor his time on the court, but expects him to play a significant role.

High among the positives of pre-season practice, two Red-White games and a scrimmage against Texas-Arlington has been the point-guard play of Miles. Roccaforte started practice not knowing whether Miles would hold off Harris, but has been so pleased with the Clear Brook ex that he’s playing Harris as the off guard.

“Anthony has played very well,” said the coach. “Harris can really shoot it, so playing the two of them together has some pluses. They are both so fast and quick, and I mean really fast and quick, that they make things happen and come up with a lot of balls.”

If there’s a downside to having the two on the floor together, it’s that neither is anywhere close to the 6-1 height listed for them. Both probably top out in the 5-10 range, meaning there are some obvious shortcomings.

The countdown to the Nov. 13 Montagne Center opener against Huston-Tillotson will include a pair of 7:30 p.m. Red-White scrimmages Wednesday and the following Tuesday (Nov. 10) that are open to the public, and a closed door scrimmage against Prairie View on Saturday.

“A lot can happen between now and the start of the season,” said Roccaforte. “We need so much work in the way of repetitions, especially for the new guys. What I like at this point is we seem to have great locker room chemistry and cohesion.

“Our new guys and our veterans appear to really, really, really like each other and have a great work ethic. What’s going to be the key is how well they do things like executing our offense, making free throws, sharing the ball and rebounding on the defensive end.”







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