Men's basketball signs three high school stars
11/11/2009 5:00:00 PM | Men's Basketball
By Cody Stark, Huntsville Item
Sam Houston State men's basketball inked three high school recruits Wednesday afternoon during the first day of the fall signing period. Byron Randle of Friendswood, LaPorte's Randy Collins and Florida Air Academy's Kuamaine Osborne will play for Sam Houston State and Bearkats head coach Bob Marlin next fall.
"We are excited to add these three guys, two are from Texas that are highly thought of and Kuamaine from Florida, who was recruited by a lot of schools on the East Coast," Marlin said Wednesday. "We are excited to add all these guys to our program. We needed young guards in the program because obviously we are losing Ashton (Mitchell) and Corey (Allmond), so we need two guys that can step in."
Those two guards are Randle and Osborne.
Randle is a 6-3 point guard who received first-team all-district and Texas Association of Basketball Coaches all-region honors last season. He averaged 14.5 points, 5.6 rebounds and 6.5 assists per game for Friendswood head coach Darren Chandler.
With Mitchell graduating after this season, the Bearkats only have sophomore Drae Murray to run the point, so they really needed to add some depth at that position.
"(Randle) is very explosive. I talked to coach Chandler last night, they had a scrimmage, and he tip-dunked one, two hands above the rim. He is just a real quality athlete. He isn't a great shooter, but he reminds us of Ashton when he was young. Ashton has turned into a pretty good shooter and has worked hard. But Byron has that kind of speed with more size."
"(Byron) is probably the best player we have ever had that is that unselfish," Chandler said Wednesday evening. "He is a great person and he has really good size and can be opposing as a point guard. Sam Houston is a good fit for Byron and he is a good fit for Sam Houston."
The Bearkats did get a shooter who could fill in for Allmond next year. Osborne is a 6-1 shooting guard who earned Florida Class 2A All-State honors for coach Aubin Gorporo last season on a Florida Air Academy team that went 23-1.
"Kuamaine is a strong two guard who can really shoot the ball," Marlin said. "Based on what we saw this summer, in the Houston and Texas area, he was one of the best shooters that we saw."
Osborne led Florida Air Academy in scoring last season, averaging 22 points a game. He also made 96 3-pointers.
"He is a very good shooter," Gorporo said Wednesday. "He is probably one of the best shooters in the state of Florida."
With the backcourt taken care of, Sam Houston added some frontcourt help.
Collins is a 6-5 forward who helped LaPorte and head coach Chris Mason post back-to-back 28-5 seasons. He averaged 18.6 points as a junior and was a first-team all-district selection.
"Randy is a guy that has good hands, good feet and can score. He has a knack to get the ball in the basket," Marlin said. "He can be a mismatch for us at either the three or the four.
"... Byron and Randy played together on the same AAU team, so it really worked out. The way we went about the recruiting, we really needed a point guard and came back to Randy after Byron committed. Byron jumped in and used that friendship to help us get Randy."
The Bearkats still have one scholarship left and will fill that slot during the 2010 spring signing period.
The three high school seniors all signed with Sam Houston State on the first day of the 2009 November early signing period. In his 11 years as Bearkat head coach, Marlin has directed the team to 200 victories, making the Sam Houston program the "winningest" team in the Southland Conference since 1998-99.
Sam Houston opens its 2009-10 regular season schedule Saturday with a 7 p.m. home game against LeTourneau.
Through Saturday morning at 10 a.m., fans can take advantage of the $1 basketball ticket 72-hour on-line sale during which fans can purchase genearl admission tickets to any or all of the Bearkats' home non-conference games in November and December for just a dollar. Reserved seats are $5 during the on-line only sale.
For additional information about tickets to Bearkat sports events, go on-line at www.gobearkats.com or contact the Sam Houston athletic ticket office located in the Ron Mafrige Field House at Bowers Stadium. Ticket office hours are 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday. The ticket office telephone number is (936) 294-1729.
