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INSIDE MOREHOUSE, FEBRUARY 2015 Morehouse Hoops Talented, But Young, Basketball Maroon Tigers Among the Best BY ADD SEYMOUR JR. GOING INTO THIS BASKETBALL SEA SON, head coach Grady Brewer '80 knew he had a talented team, albeit a young one. So far, they’ve lived up to both assessments. The Maroon Tigers are among the top teams in the Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Conference this season, going 9-2 in January, and knocking off first-place Paine College along with most of the contenders in the SIAC Western Division. They sport the league’s top defensive team and one of the best rebounding. The only stumbling block has been losses to teams such as Fort Valley State, an Eastern Division cellar dweller, and bad losses at home to Benedict, Stillman and Claflin. Brewer points to things that he says young teams often have prob lems with. “Three things down the stretch that we’ve been concentrating on,” Brewer said. “I’m looking for us to be a better free-throw-shooting team, not missing layups and taking care of the basketball. “But so far, I’m pretty happy,” he said. “Like anything, it takes time for them to gel with one another and I think we’re getting there. It’s still not there, because of the inconsistency. But I think this team has a very good future ahead if they stick together, learn how to share the ball and commit to picking up the pennies." Picking up the pennies is one of the mantras that Brewer repeats often at Forbes Arena. It means taking care of the little things, he said, which allows them to take care of monies - such as layups. His team leans heavily on dynamic freshman guard Tyrius Walker II, a business administration major from Atlanta, who leads the team in scoring with 13 points a game. Inside Tyrone Brown, a 6’ 9” junior center from Millen, Ga., is among the SIAC’s leaders in rebound ing, averaging eight per game. Another integral part of the Maroon Tigers success this season hasn’t set foot on the playing floor, Brewer said. Bigger and louder crowds at Forbes Arena have allowed Morehouse to be third best in attendance in the SIAC Ibis season. It’s also given the Maroon Tigers a strong home-court advantage. “The crowd has been tremendous this year,” he said. “Our kids have really appreciated it. I asked earlier that every one create the sixth man, and I’d like to say “thank you’ to everybody this year for coming out We just want to continue to build on that” ■ FOOTBALL Twenty-Two Sign to Play Football on National Signing Day Pattillo Inducted Into Decatur High School Wall of Fame Athletic Director Andre Pattillo 79 was inducted into the Decatur High School (Ga.) Wall of Fame on Jan. 16. Pattillo, a multi-sport star ath lete at Decatur High, was honored for his athletics accomplishments as a football and baseball player at Morehouse, his 20-year career as a college basketball official and his years of service as director of Admissions (1996 to 2000) and athletic director (2000 to present) at Morehouse. BASEBALL Coach Mitchell Excited About 2015 Maroon Tigers Team WITH A FOCUS on getting larger on the offensive and defensive lines, and add ing depth to the quarterback position, Morehouse football coaches signed 22 players on National Signing Day in February. “I would have to say by far this is the top class that I’ve been involved with since coming to Morehouse,” head coach Rich Freeman said. He credited the support from President John Silvanus Wilson Jr. ’79, who said he committed coaches to finding some talented football players. “We weren’t very big or able to run the football when we needed to on like third and short or first and 10. Those are downs that pretty much can help or hurt the tempo, pace and continuity of an offense. So we got bigger as a football team, and I’m very happy with that.” Coaches also signed two quarter backs, Keilan Knight from Birmingham, Ala., and Taylor Brown from Austin, Texas. Knight is a threat both running and throwing the football, while Brown was a sought-after recruit. The Maroon Tigers picked up 10 com mitments from the state of Alabama, part of Freeman’s strategy to renew ties in that state. “Back when we started the program in 2007, we got a huge tlirust from the state of Alabama just with connections that I had and defensive coordinator George Copeland has as former coaches at Alabama State,” Freeman said. “We kind of got away from that and kind of focused on Atlanta and Georgia. But I wanted to get back to Alabama, so with the 10 signees, I think we have reopened some doors for us that will be beneficiaL “Overall, I think we were able to accomplish pretty much everytfiing that we set out to,” Freeman said. “This is the first time since I’ve been here that we are basi cally done with recruiting at this point. I’m very excited and looking forward to getting them into fall camp.” ■ -AS MOREHOUSE BASEBALL coach Robert Mitchell couldn’t wait for the 2015 sea son to get started. Since going a competitive 9-28 last season with a strong, young nucleus, and after adding some talented new players, the Maroon Tigers have been eager to start the 2015 baseball season. “This team has a lot of potential,” Mitchell said. “We’re still dealing with some of the things that we’ve dealt with in the past -a little immaturity. But other tlian that, this team has more potential than any team we’ve had for the last four years.” One of the biggest problems for the Maroon Tigers last season was a lack of pitdiing depth. They’ve added three new pitchers in Darron Bowling, Cole Gibson and Anthony Dodd. “All three of them are throwing the ball quite well right now,” Mitchell said. “If they can continue to throw the ball they way they are throwing it, well reap the dividends when we get to conference play.” Mitchell also pointed to two outfield newcomers, Jared Manner and Justin Stephens. Manner is flitting over .600 this season while Stephens has been solid at the plate in the field They join returning sophomore stal warts in catcher Zachary Lowe and 2014 All-SLAC outfielder Caleb Pyscher to form a solid young nucleus, while Ryan Christian rounds out a solid outfield “We are playing better,” Mitchell said “Our eariy record doesn’t really indicate it, but we’re doing things that we fed will pay divi dends when we get into conference play.” For more information about the Morehouse baseball team, go to http://athletics. morehouse.edu/indexaspx?path=basebalL -AS HERE ARE THE 2015 MOREHOUSE FOOTBALL SIGNEES: 0G Leonard Williams, 6’ 3”, 280 pounds, Americus High School, Americus, Ga. 0G Henry White, 6' 4”, 335 pounds, South Cobb High School, Marietta, Ga. 0G Trey Wilson, 6’ 4”, 325, Brookwood High School, Lawrenceville, Ga. 0G J.J. Cyriaquie, 6' 2”, 277 pounds, Charles E. Jordan High School, Durham, N.C. DE Antonio Johnson, 6’ 3", 220, Centerpoint High School, Birmingham, Ala. QB Keilan Knight, 6' 2”, 205, Centerpoint High School, Birmingham, Ala. DB Elijah Brown, 6' 3", 200, Wheeler High School, Marietta, Ga. DB Dorion Bush, 6' 2”, 185, Ramsey High School, Pinson, Ala. LB Carzell Thomspon, 6’ 0”, 220, Jackson-Olin High School, Birmingham, Ala. WR Sherman Starks, 5” 10”, 175, Centerpoint High School, Birmingham, Ala. WR Amyr Smith, 5' 8”, 160 pounds, Grady High School, Atlanta, Ga. DE Tim Foster, 6’ 2" 240 pounds, Pleasant Grove High School, Pleasant Grove, Ala. LB Ty Ware, 6' 0”, 209 pounds, Pleasant Grove High School, Pleasant Grove, Ala. QB Taylor Brown, 6’ 2”, 220 pounds, Stephens Episcopal High School, Austin, Tx. TE J. Elijah Toney, 6’ 3”, 225 pounds, Heard County High School, Franklin, Ga, WR Trevor Gichaba, 5' 8”, 170 pounds, Cox Mill High School, Concord, N.C. OT Tyler Kendall, 6' 3”, 280 pounds, South Cobb High School, Marietta, Ga. 0T Joseph Samuel, 6’ 5” 305 pounds, Fairfield High School, Fairfield, Ala. RB Bricen Terry, 5’ 9”, 190 pounds, Creekside High School, Atlanta, Ga. 0L Jordan Harris, 6’ 6”, 330 pounds, Alabama State University DL Jordan Sidney, 6’ 2”, 285, Tennessee State University DL Brandon Ketchup, 6’ 4”, 300 pounds, Paine College