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Texans ready for another run at glory by Michael Martinez, staff writer With the changing of the leaves comes basketball season, and with the new basketball season comes high expectations. The South Plains College men’s basketball team hopes to build off of last year’s 26-7 season. According to the coaches of the Western Junior College Athletic Conference, the Texans are the team to beat. SPC went 13-3 and won a co-championship in the WJCAC, advancing to the championship game of the NJCAA Region V Tournament. Returning for the Texans this year are sophomore guards Jonathan Hall and Nick Okorie, along with forwards Luciano de Souza and Lu Griffin. Leading the way for SPC will be Okorie, a 6-foot guard from Houston who averaged 12.2 points per game last season and recieved Honorable Mention All-Conference recognition. “Nick averaged 12 points a game last year, so we are expecting him to step up and do that again and maybe more,” said head coach Steve Green of his sophomore guard. “He is a pure shooter, a heck of an athlete and he is always on balance. What Nick needs is more consistency. He had some great games and some not-so-great games last year. Hopefully that will balance out.” Hall is a 6-foot-4 guard from Miami, Fla., who also got a nod for Honorable Mention All-Conference honors after averaging 9.6 points and 7.4 rebounds last season. “He has been our best all-around player coming back because he can dribble, pass and shoot,” Green said. “He is an offensive rebounder, and he makes the other guys on the floor better.” Manning the middle will be Griffin, a 6-5 forward from Greenville, S.C., who averaged 5.7 points and 4.8 rebounds last season. De Souza, a 6-6 swingman from Brazil, averaged five points and 2.5 rebounds last year. One of the biggest holes to fill is at the point guard position. Freshmen who hope to step up into the role are 5-11 Phillip Outley from West Monroe, La., 5-11 Landon Tatum from San Antonio and 5-11 Tiago Jabur from Brazil. Other freshmen who hope to make an immediate impact are Ladarius Hall, a 6-3 guard from Thomasville, Ga., who has great range, along with Hugh Mingo , a 6-3 guard from West Monroe, La., and Carlos Dos Santos, a 6-8 forward from Brazil. There are a couple of new faces to the junior college basketball scene vying for a starting position. Among those is Kendrick Johnson, a 6-8 forward from Morton who spent his freshman year at the University of Georgia. Also, Maxwell Dubois is a 6-3 guard from Hollywood, Fla., who transferred to SPC from Penn State University. “This is one of the few years that I really have no idea what anyone else has,” Green said. “I think we’re pretty good, but it’s all relative. I like the mix that we have, but I don’t know what anybody else has.” The Texans open the season Nov. 9 at home, taking on the Lubbock Christian University JV at 7 p.m. They also will face Coastal Bend at 3 p.m. on Nov. 10 at the Texan Dome.
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