By Chance Thyhsen – In Motion Staff Writer
This season, the Daytona State College’s men’s basketball team has a plethora of young, multicultural talent.
Consisting of six sophomores and seven freshmen, along with return player Kam’Ron Cunningham and Coach Chad Donley, the Falcons are ready to compete again. Last year with a completely different coaching staff, they had a fantastic 25-7 season with a short but sweet run into the conference tournament under head coach Brock Morris, with other assistant coaches Justin Mann, Braxton Morris and Adeel Sahibzada.
Not only did the Falcons have a great season, they had six of 14 players move on to major NCAA Division One institutions. The remaining eight are elsewhere at schools across the country continuing their basketball careers.
I spoke to Cunningham and Coach Donley separately, and asked what made them want to return this year.
“What made me want to stay was because I already had a feel for the city, for the team, as well as the environment around me,” said sophomore Cunningham. “I wanted to stay where my feet where already at. I also was interested in meeting new people, and getting to know my new teammates, and coach. So that is what really convinced me to stay.”
Afterwards, when speaking with Coach Donley, he echoed the sentiment by saying, “Well, just being here in Daytona Beach for a year I really fell in love with the community, the school and everyone we work with. Even though the coach that hired me left, Coach McCann’s reputation precedes him. He is one of the best on the rise young coaches in America, and while he was at Palm Beach State, they made the regional tournament every year with a chance to go to the national tournament.
“I also wanted to expand my knowledge as far as basketball coaching goes, and what could be a better way to learn other than learning from one of the best young coaches who can still relate to the guys and has proven his success. So, I was excited when he got the job, and I was even more excited when he decided to keep me on as one of his assistant coaches.”
The Falcons are currently looking to keep the great energy and work up with a key phrase. “Talent sets the floor, character sets the ceiling.” Since new Head Coach Martin McCann has arrived on the scene, they have been doing just that. The Falcons are currently 12-9 this season and are averaging 85.2 points per game. When starting the new job as head coach, McCann added assistant coach JP Reagan to his staff since Donley was the only one to return.
“I was eager to come coach at Daytona State in order to learn about coaching from a great young coach in Martin McCann,” said Coach Reagan.
This season, DSC is 1-3 going into conference play but are still shooting 48.6% from field goal and 66.1% from the stripe with leading scorers Damerius Wash (15.9 PPG, or points per game) and Marco Morency (15.6 PPG) leading the charge.
Checking out DSC’s defensive statistics, it’s easy to see just why the team is succeeding. The Falcons are averaging 8 steals, 31 defensive rebounds, 4 blocks per game and only allowing opposing teams to score 81.5 PPG.
The Falcons have been stricken by injuries to key players such as Alex Kotov, Kam’Ron Cunningham, Jacob Tracey, Damerius Wash, Marco Morency, Marcus Hopkins, and Jimmy Beane Jr. early in the season. All others have since returned, but Kotov has yet to play. He has missed 16 since he injured his left hand in early Nov. in a game against Denmark Tech.
“Alex [Kotov] came here from Palm Beach State with a whole lot of experience, starting 80% of his games last year as a freshman and played a lot of minutes with a team that won a conference championship,” said McCann. “You know, a guy outside of Adong Makuoi that had played the most college minutes of anyone on our team. So, losing a veteran guy that had been in big games, and in late moments that made big plays on a team that won a championship. Losing that experience really hurt us, and in addition to that, he is a very cerebral player with very high basketball IQ, that we definitely could have used.”
A timetable on Kotov’s return has been decided, and under the judgement of the coaching and medical staff at the school, Kotov be will applying for a medical redshirt, ensuring he still has 3 years of eligibility left.
With only a couple months left to play, keep an eye on the Falcons in the last conference games of the season and attend one of the four remaining home games of the season.