Philip Barbour's Austin Upton Commits to ABU

The Alderson Broaddus men's basketball team picked up a commit today from Philip Barbour senior guard Austin Upton. News broke this afternoon that Upton had chosen to stay at home to play for the Battlers. Upton was a driving force behind the Colts 22-4 season that earned them a regional final championship and a bid in the West Virginia AA state tournament bracket. The crafty 6'2" senior ran the point for the Colts this past season for a team that was known to pack the Philip Barbour gymnasium for almost every game. Upton averaged 18 points, 4.2 assists and 4 rebounds per game for the season. For his efforts, he was named to the West Virginia 1st-team AA all-state team as selected by coaches and media from around the mountain state.

Austin was known to save some of his best performances against the toughest competition that PBHS faced. In late December, he put on one of his best performances against two-time state champion Fairmont Senior Polar Bears. He poured in 17 points, 7 assists and 6 boards against the eventual WV AA state champs. Upton was the only PBHS player that scored in double-figures in their state tournament appearance against Mingo Central. He had 16 points that evening going against Marshall commit Jeremy Dillon. Austin also had a 27-point performance against traditional AA power Robert C. Byrd HS. Against a class AAA opponent in Ripley HS, he put on an impressive performance by pouring in 20 points. Austin was selected this past season to the Big Ten Conference's 1st-team. For his efforts in leading Philip Barbour to a 6-0 start, Upton was also named the Athlete of the Week by Channel 12 WBOY. He played at Philip Barbour for head coach Marcus Johnson. Battler Beat will try to catch up with Austin later next week for an in-depth interview. In the mean time, we have linked video below to Upton's senior year highlights.

Austin Upton's Senior Year Highlight Package

Brandon Willis Transfers to ABU from Tarleton State

Battler Beat has learned that Brandon Willis has left Tarleton State and will enroll at Alderson Broaddus University this fall. Willis was a highly touted player coming out of Hammond High School in Columbia, MD. He averaged 20.7 points, 4.5 assists, 4 rebounds and 2.7 steals as a senior at Hammond. Willis visited ABU, Tarleton State and St. Thomas Aquinas during his senior year of high school before deciding on Tarleton State. He was named to the 2nd team All-Baltimore Sun team during his final season at Hammond. Brandon transferred to Hammond from Atholton High School for his final season. He averaged 22 point per game as a junior at Atholton and was one of seven players listed as Baltimore area player of the year candidates by the Baltimore Sun. Willis led Hammond to the regional final game and a 20-4 record.

Willis had multiple Division II offers coming out of high school. He had offers from such D2 notables as Tarleton State, St. Thomas Aquinas, Alderson Broaddus, Augusta and Livingstone.  He decided to attend Tarleton which had been to the NCAA Elite Eight in the two previous seasons. St. Thomas Aquinas also made the Elite 8 this past year. Brandon averaged 4.1 points per game as a freshman and had an impressive 19 to 11 assist to turnover ratio. He will transfer to Alderson Broaddus with a 3.0 GPA. Willis will have three years of eligibility at ABU. Brandon Willis was the first high school player in 28 years that Tarleton State head coach Lonn Reisman signed that was not from the state of Texas.  The article linked below is a release from Tarleton that verifies this information. Tarleton State finished 22-8 this past season and qualified for the NCAA tournament once again.

http://theflashtoday.com/2016/04/14/reisman-signs-first-out-of-state-high-school-prospect/

The link below is highlights of Brandon's play in high school.

Brandon Willis Basketball Videos

Battlers Land Tyler Golphin out of Cleveland Central Catholic

Battler Beat has learned that the Alderson Broaddus men's basketball team has earned the services of 6'2" wing player Tyler Golphin from Cleveland Central Catholic High School. Golphin actually received a Division I offer back in September from Bethune-Cookman. Tyler has a versatile game from the wing position. Golphin has an uncanny ability to break the defender down off the dribble and then pull up for a jumper. He is very explosive to the rim once he gets by any defender. Tyler can also step back and hit the outside three-pointer if given the opportunity. He is excellent in transition with or without the basketball. We will have more later on Tyler Golphin. For now, sit back and watch some very good videos of his play in the Cleveland area.

G-MAC Releases 2017-18 Men's Basketball Conference Schedule

The Great Midwest Athletic Conference has released the conference portion of the 2017-18 men's basketball schedules. This year's schedule features 20 conference games. This year's G-MAC schedule will feature 5 new conference members in Findlay, Hillsdale, Lake Erie, Ohio Dominican and Walsh. The schedule also features current members in Cedarville, Davis & Elkins, Kentucky Wesleyan, Malone, Ohio Valley and Trevecca Nazarene.  Non-conference games for Alderson Broaddus University will be released throughout the summer at Battler Beat. Here is ABU's men's basketball conference schedule:

Thursday, November 30 :  Malone University (Away)

Saturday, December 2 :     Walsh University (Away)

Saturday, December 9 :     Davis & Elkins College (Away)

Thursday, December 14 :  Lake Erie College  (Home)

Tuesday, December 19 :   University of Findlay (Away)

Saturday, December 30 :   Hillsdale College (Home)

Thursday, January 4 :      Ohio Valley University (Home)

Thursday, January 11 :    Cedarville University (Home)

Saturday, January 13 :     Ohio Dominican University (Home)

Monday, January 15 :      Lake Erie College (Away)

Thursday, January 18 :    Trevecca Nazarene University (Away)

Saturday, January 20 :     Kentucky Wesleyan College (Away)

Thursday, January 25 :    Walsh University (Home)

Saturday, January 27 :     Malone University (Home)

Saturday, February 3 :     Davis & Elkins College (Home)

Saturday, February 10 :   Ohio Valley University (Away)

Thursday, February 15 :  Kentucky Wesleyan College (Home)

Saturday, February 17 :   Trevecca Nazarene University (Home)

Thursday, February 22 :  Ohio Dominican University (Away)

Saturday, February 24 :   Cedarville University (Away)

Thurs-Sat., March 1-3 :  G-MAC Men's Basketball Tournament (TBD)

Battlers Sign Big Time Guard from Cleveland

The Alderson Broaddus men's basketball staff has been on a roll lately when it comes to recruiting. But the latest commit has what many high school basketball followers and writers describe as one of the top players in the Cleveland area. The Battlers have landed Anthony Carmon, an athletic scoring guard from East Tech HS in Cleveland, OH. Carmon will come to Philippi after averaging 20.6 points, 5.1 assists, 5.1 rebounds and 3.6 steals during his senior campaign at East Tech. He put this production up despite playing with another talented teammate who took his talents to the ACC. Carmon is more than just a scorer. His videos show a tremendous defender with excellent instincts away from the basketball.

Individuals in the Cleveland area that follow basketball closely raved about Carmon's talents. Dave Cassilo of the Cleveland Plain Dealer wrote a column in mid-February of Anthony's senor season which had Carmon as one of 6 players that would qualify for the Cleveland-area High School Player of the Year. And Carmon wasn't in bad company on that list. Cassilo mentioned five other players in that column that all went on to play Division I basketball. Such notable names as Markell Johnson (NC State), Carlton Bragg (Kansas University), Esa Ahmad (West Virginia) and Antwon Lillard (Bowling Green) joined Anthony Carmon as players who Cassilo felt were noteworthy of player of the year in his mid-February column of that year.

This was not the only significant recognition that Carmon was receiving during his senior season. Ohio Elite News called Carmon "Ohio's most underrated guard". Zach Fleer reported that Ohio University went to visit Anthony at an open gym during his senior season. Steven Newton of 3rdcoast blog called Carmon "Ohio's most underrated and entertaining guard". Carmon also garnered the 3-point shootout champion at the prestigious 3rdcoasthoops High School All Star Game. Some of Carmon's videos that we linked throughout this story show an electrifying player that brings a lot of talent, energy and heart to Rex Pyles Arena next year. We have reached out to Anthony, and he has agreed to an in-depth interview. Look for that story later in the month. In the mean time, enjoy the videos.

Battlers Sign Martinsburg Standout Jarrell Jones

Alderson Broaddus men's basketball team signed Martinsburg HS (WV) all-state player Jarrell Jones. The 6'4" standout for the Bulldogs will bring a tremendous amount of versatility to the Battler squad. As a junior for Martinsburg, Jones averaged 22 points, 7 rebounds, 4 assists and 3 steals. He would follow that up his senior campaign by averaging 18 points, 6 rebounds, 3 assists and 2 steals. Martinsburg advanced to the West Virginia AAA boys state basketball tournament during Jones' junior and senior seasons. Jones has the ability to bring the ball up the court, read screens for an open jumper or attack the rim with a tremendous jump that gets Jones above the rim. He brings another athletic and explosive player that can attack the rim on offensive rebounding opportunities which Alderson Broaddus basketball is known for. Jones shows the versatility to play multiple positions on the floor as his size and athleticism allow him to guard three positions at the Division 2 level. He can run the point or play the wing where he can create off the dribble by breaking a defender down.  Stay tuned to Battler Beat for more on Jarrell Jones in a more in-depth article later in the month.

ABU Women's Hoops Sign Guard from Maryland

The Alderson Broaddus' women's basketball team has signed Nayieh Miller from Laurel High School in Laurel, Maryland. Miller played point guard for the Spartans for the past four years. She averaged 13.8 points per game and 8.4 assists per game during her senior campaign. She is noted in the Baltimore Sun as to have once had 14 steals in a game. Miller will come to Philippi to compete for the point guard position that has been vacated due to the graduation of Lorin Clark. Nayieh's recruiting video package shows a cat-quick point guard when bringing the basketball up the court. She demonstrates good court vision when looking for an open teammate. She also has good defensive basketball instincts where she is able to get a hand in the passing lane to get a steal. Nayieh played in the prestigious Hagerstown Roundball Class during the first weekend of April. She played in the Girls Civil War on the Floor Elite Game as a member of the Mason-Dixon squad. She had 5 points and 4 assists during that event.

Alderson Broaddus' First Men's Basketball Championship

In 1936, the Alderson Broaddus men's basketball team won their first WVIAC championship by defeating the Concord Mountain Lions by a score of 59-37. The tournament was held in Clarksburg, WV. The Battlers had defeated Potomac State in the quarterfinal round by a score of 36-30. A-B would advance to the championship game by defeating Glenville State 49-37 in the semifinal round. The Battlers placed two players on the all-tournament team. Both Don Kelley and Neil Sappington received all-tournament honors for their effort in leading A-B to the championship.

An interesting twist to this 1936 WVIAC tournament comes from the Concord Mountain Lion team that Alderson Broaddus beat in that championship game. One of their players is still alive today at the age of 103. Lewis D'Antoni played both football and basketball for Concord during this era. He was also selected to the all-tournament team that year. D'Antoni would graduate from Concord and begin a 35-year teaching/coaching career in Mullens, WV where he would accumulate over 450 wins as a head coach including a 1955 state championship. He is the father of two sons: Mike D'Antoni, current head basketball coach of the Houston Rockets and Dan D'Antoni, current head basketball coach at Marshall University. Mike's team is currently in the NBA playoffs squaring off against the San Antonion Spurs. Dan's Thundering Herd team finished as runner up this past season in the Conference USA men's basketball tournament.

CCBC Catonsville's Montaque Wright Commits to Alderson Broaddus

Battler Beat has learned from CCBC Catonsville's men's basketball head coach Greate White that 6'2" wing player Montaque Wright has given a commitment to Alderson Broaddus University. CCBC Catonsville finished this past season with an overall record of 20-8 and 11-3 in the Maryland JUCO conference. The Cardinals were runner-up in the regular season standings in the Maryland JUCO conference. Wright averaged 18 points per game this past season. He also averaged 4.4 rebounds per game, 3.1 assists per game and 2.5 steals per game for the Cardinals. As a sophomore, he shot 36.4% from the floor and 32.6% from beyond the 3-point line. For his efforts, Wright was named to the 2016-17 All-MD JUCO Men's Basketball Second Team. Wright scored in double-figures in all but three games this past season.

As a freshman for CCBC Catonsville, Wright averaged 22.6 points per game. He was a 1st-team All Region XX junior college selection. He concluded his freshman campaign by dropping 53 points against Rowan College of Burlington County. As a freshman, he shot 44.3% from the floor and 37.4% from beyond the arc. Wright is a native of Baltimore, Maryland. He will have two-years of eligibility for the Battlers.