Morehouse Basketball Starts the Season on Fire

By Craig Allen Brown

Morehouse head basketball coach Grady Brewer is not resting on the 25 wins he accumulated last year, or the number one seed his team earned in the NCAA national tournament.

Despite losing an NBA-level talent in former Knicks guard Tyrius Walker, Brewer once again has Morehouse College competing on a national level.

As of press time, the Maroon Tigers are 7-1, and are the 18th-ranked Division II basketball team in the country.

Brewer did not have to look far in an attempt to replace Walker’s SIAC-best 22.8 points per game from last year. Veteran players Omar Alston, Chibueze Ebinum, James Walker, Michael Olmert and Robert Andrews have all stepped up; each player averages double-figures for the Maroon Tigers.

The aforementioned players, with the exception of Alston, also shoot at least 40 percent from the three-point line. Morehouse’s offensive onslaught has resulted in an average margin of victory of 23 points per game. Alston does his damage inside of the three-point line. He leads the Maroon Tigers in scoring, connecting on field goals at a rate of over 50 percent. He currently leads the SIAC in rebounds at 11.7 a game. Tuesday, he was selected as the SIAC Player of the Week for the second consecutive week.

Along with leading the SIAC in scoring offense (82.5 points per game), Morehouse is second in scoring defense, holding opponents to 67.5 points per game. Their combined efficiency on offense and defense make the Maroon Tigers an early favorite for SIAC champions.

After winning both games of Morehouse’s Arthur J. McAfee Memorial Classic, the Maroon Tigers will resume SIAC play Saturday on the road against Kentucky State University. Game time is 3 p.m.

This article originally appeared in the Atlanta Voice.