Alderson Broaddus Lands Local Product Tavon Horton

Alderson Broaddus got a tremendous late addition to their men's basketball program last week. Tavon Horton of Fairmont, WV signed on with the Battlers. Horton was a West Virginia 1st-team AA All-State selection this past season for his accomplishments on the court for the Fairmont Senior Polar Bears. This past season Horton average 11 point per game, 5 rebounds per game, 4 assists per game and 2.5 steals per game while playing the point guard position. Those were impressive numbers on a team that regularly played 10 to 12 players a night. He was named the 2015 Times-West Virginia Player of the Year.

Horton really caught the eye of the Battler coaching staff at this past season's West Virginia Boy's
State Tournament. This was the venue where Tavon took his game to another level and showed why the Battlers would come calling this summer. He averaged 17 points per game during the three games that Fairmont Senior played in the state tournament. What is even more impressive is that Horton drew the opposing team's best player in each of the three games of the state tournament. He drew the defensive assignment of guarding Bridgeport's John Wilfong and Poca's Elijah Cuffee. Both of those players were also 1st-team all-state selections. Horton held both players to a combined 16 points. Cuffee already has several D-I offers including an offer to play at Texas Tech. Fairmont Senior finished as the WV AA Boys Basketball Runner Up. The Polar Bears finished the season with 23 wins an 3 losses.

This past summer Tavon was selected to play in the prestigious West Virginia North-South All-Star basketball game. Horton didn't slow down his progress at this venue either. He finished the game with 15 points, 8 assists and 4 steals. For his efforts, Tavon was named the North All-Star Most Valuable Player of the Game. We hope to catch up with Tavon for an interview later on this week.

Battlers land JUCO transfer Ohndo Smith

Battler Beat was informed last week that ABU men's basketball team signed junior college post player Ohndo Smith. The 6'8"/275 post player was a student-athlete at Jamestown Community College the past two seasons.  Smith originally committed to the University of Tennessee-Martin in the fall. He averaged 24.6 points per game along with 14 rebounds per game for Jamestown CC this past season. For his efforts, Smith was named 1st-team All Region 3 of Division III for the NJCAA. He is a native of the Bronx, NY. Battler Beat will be contacting Ohndo later on in the week for an interview.

Former Battler Nate Barnes Erupts for 54 points in Pro League Game

Battler Beat recently updated fans about former Alderson Broaddus all-conference player Nate Barnes signing a pro contract to play in Nicaragua. We have an update for Battler fans. Nate Barnes recently pumped in 54 points, including 14 three-pointers in 23 attempts. This production by Barnes was for his team's 103-52 league victory. It appears that the 14 three-pointers was the most ever in a league game. You can catch one of Nate's three-pointers on the video below. The game was played in front of a lively crowd.

Battlers Add Two Games vs. Old WVIAC Foes

The Alderson Broaddus Men's Basketball team has added two more out-of-conference games for the upcoming season. The two games will be against foes that the fans of ABU are familiar with. Both games are also Saturday afternoon contests.

The Battlers will be taking on local rival Glenville State on Saturday, December 12th at 4 PM in Glenville. The game will be played at the beautiful Waco Center located on the campus of Glenville State College. It will match the teacher versus student match up as current Glenville State Head Coach Stephen Dye is a former all-conference performer for the Battlers. Glenville is coming off another successful season which saw the Pioneers achieve their second straight NCAA bid. Glenville State was also the Mountain East Conference tournament champion this past season.

AB will return to Rex Pyles Arena the following Saturday to take on former WVIAC member Shepherd. The game will take place on December 19th at 4 PM. The Rams are coming off a 15-15 campaign this past season. Both the Glenville and Shepherd games will be counted as in-region games.