By Anvil Welch
awelch@joplinglobe.com
MIAMI, Okla. — Eight sophomores are in the mix of key personnel as the Northeastern Oklahoma A&M; men’s basketball team opens its season tonight at 7 with a home game against the Oklahoma Baptist junior varsity.
The NJCAA Division I Golden Norsemen entertain 25th ranked Coffeyville at 8 p.m. on Tuesday in the NEO Fieldhouse before traveling to Broken Arrow for a 7 p.m. game next Monday with the Rhema Bible junior varsity.
It’s back home on Nov. 11 to entertain No. 4 Three Rivers of Poplar Bluff, Mo.
Said NEO coach Dustin Grover: “We have two junior varsity opponents in our first three games to give us an opportunity to find out our identity as a team. We’ll have a chance to figure out what guys we are playing in what spots.”
NEO finished 17-14 last season and lost 97-77 to Northern Oklahoma-Enid in a quarterfinal of the Region II Tournament at Shawnee.
Grover and assistant Steve Harrel are juggling players at the point guard position with the return of 6-foot-2 Raphael Brown and 6-0 Jamell Cormier.
Brown, from Kansas City, Mo., averaged 10.7 points and 2.4 rebounds as a freshman. He led NEO with 79 assists and 33 steals.
Cormier, Lafayette, La., averaged 7.8 points and 2.5 boards. He added 68 assists and 28 steals.
Sophomores Scott Forrest (6-4, Atco, N.J.) and Javvero Baker (6-3, Edmond Santa Fe) should see playing time at either the point or shooting guard, according to Grover.
Freshmen Will Fonseca (6-4, Staten Island, N.Y.), Rodrigo Freitas (6-2, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil), Javer Lewis (6-0, Broken Bow), Korey Fisher (6-0, east Orange, N.J.), Austin King (5-10, Harrah) and Micah Smith (6-0, Muskogee) are expected to provide depth at either guard position.
A veteran keying the NEO offense, Grover said, is 6-4 Phillipe Martin of Staten Island, N.Y., as either a three or four. Martin, the scoring (13.3) and rebounding (4.8) leader in 2008-09, added 43 assists and 22 steals in earning all-league honors in the defunct Bi-State Athletic Conference.
Tony Ross, a 6-7 sophomore out of Tulsa Union, and 6-3 freshman Carlius Lemon of Marrero, La., are challenging at the four spot. Ross, unable to practice because of a knee injury, averaged 5.5 points and 2.7 rebounds.
Kendrick Murray, a 6-4 freshman (Houston, Texas), is expected to see duty at either the three or four spot.
Anchoring the middle for the Norse are veterans Andre Coimbra and Brandon Edwards.
Coimbra (6-9, Rio de Janeiro) averaged 2.9 points and 2.7 caroms and blocked 15 shots. Edwards (6-6, Trenton, N.J.) posted averages of 2.5 points and 2.9 boards.
Byron Johnson, a 6-7 freshman from Memphis, will join the team in January after sitting out with academic issues.
Grover, in three previous seasons at the helm, has a record of 81-49. That includes a ninth place in the 2007-08 NJCAA Division I nationals at Hutchinson, Kan.
