Men’s players adjusting to new positions

Last season’s record— 7-19, 5-17 in the RMAC.
Tonight, a new era in a struggling program begins under first-year Head Coach Houston Reed. Previously at Otero Junior College, LaJunta, Colorado, Reed led the men’s team to a 27-6 record, and a NJCAA Region IX South Conference Championship.
With only seven returning players on the roster, Reed has been busy all summer, recruiting new talents and faces to the program with the hope of turning it around.
“We are really excited for the opportunity to compete,” Coach Reed said. “The guys are excited to play against someone else.”
CSC hasn’t earned a winning season since 2001-02.
The Eagles were picked to finish 14th out of 15 teams in the RMAC. The Eagles’ leading scorer from a season ago Warren Gordon, senior of Indianapolis, returns and is looking to lead the team at the guard position.
The team is lacking a true big man, but will rely on Jordan Perry, junior of Murrieta, California, to battle inside the paint. Perry played a forward position last season, but Reed said he has done a nice job of adjusting to the new role.
There are two athletes that will help in the paint, freshmen Michael Johnson, of Nassau, Bahamas, and Sam Harvey, of West Bromwich, England. Johnson stands 6’6” and 240 pounds while Harvey adds a lot of length at 6’11”.
Reed said that even though a few players will have to adjust to new roles, and play out of position, there is an advantage to giving up height inside.
“We have to play both sides of the ball,” he said. “Where we might be a little undersized on defense, other teams will have to play us on offense, giving up speed on the outside.”
Reed brought a pair of athletes from his former college as transfer students, juniors Darius Polley, of Amarillo, Texas, and Austin Hall, of Aurora, Colorado. Both Hall and Polley were members of the championship team at OJC.
Reed said that because the team is still young, a leader on the court has yet to be determined.
He did say that Gordon and senior Myles Busby, of Niles, Michigan, have stepped up in the preseason as the team’s go-to guys. Busby is a tall, athletic guard at 6’4”. He played at Urbana University, Ohio, in 2014-2015, but took last season off.
The team will play two exhibition games to start the season against D-I opponents. Tonight the Eagles will tip off against the University of Wyoming, Laramie, at 7 p.m., in Torrington, Wyoming. CSC will travel to Lincoln to play the University of Nebraska, at 6 p.m. Monday.