The Register-Herald, Beckley, West Virginia

Sports

November 3, 2009

Mountain State Academy to scrimmage W.Va. Blazers

By Dave Morrison

It almost sounds like an NBA roster.

The size is extreme: 7-foot-1, 7-0, two at 6-8, five at 6-6 or 6-7.

Yes, Mountain State Academy has size, which, in a lot of cases, doesn’t mean a whole lot.

But then factor in the talent.

The 7-foot-1 is David Nyarsuk, who could very well end up at West Virginia when the signing dust settles.

The 7-0 is sophomore Obu Aget, who is a top 30 player in his class of 2012.

One of the 6-6 players is senior Justin Martin, who has already signed with Xavier.

Three of the other six are listed as high major recruits. In other words, major Division I programs. Those are 6-6 Ahmad Ibraham, 6-8 senior forward Remy Dibo and 6-7 sophomore Jonathan Alexander.

Area fans will have their first chance to see the new-look Falcons under first-year coach Rodney Crawford, who played for West Virginia coach Bob Huggins at Cincinnati.

Mountain State Academy will play an exhibition game tonight against the West Virginia Blazers professional team at the Van Meter Gymnasium at 7 p.m.

“We have a team that, if it all works out as we hope it will, should be a Top 25 team,” Crawford said. “We have tremendous size, we have three or four really good shooters. We have a couple of scorers in that size. What we really have to do at this point is pick it up on the defensive end.”

Martin is considered one of the leaders on the floor, the coach said.

“He has a great knowledge of the game,” Crawford said of the Xavier signee. “And he is a great shooter from the outside.”

At 7-1, and a potential WVU recruit, Nyarsuk is the most intriguing players suiting up for the Falcons.

“He is slim, but strong and aggressive,” Crawford said. “He is a true center. You don’t find many true anythings anymore, but he is definitely a true center.”

The leading scorer in scrimmages and in the open gym has been Ronald Ross, a 6-4 junior who already has offers from Ohio University and Middle Tennessee State.

“He has been our most efficient guy in practice and he had 22 in a (recent) scrimmage,” Crawford said.

Another player to watch is Dibo, a high-major prospect out of France.

“He can do a lot of things to hurt a lot of teams,” Crawford said. “We can get in a lot of mismatch situations when they have a smaller guy on him and when they have a bigger guy on him because of his shooting ability.”

Jabs Newby, a returnee from last year’s team, Ibraham and Ross are taking turns at the point, giving the Falcons another mismatch opportunity with the point potentially being a 6-6 player. Ross is 6-4, Newby 6-2.

Crawford said playing a pro team will serve his team well.

“The main thing I’m looking for is how we react when grown men push these kids around a little bit,” he said. “It’s going to toughen them up. When you play older guys who know how to play the game the way it’s supposed to be played, I think that wakes you up a little bit.”

One of those is Jordan Carter, who played on George Mason’s Final Four team.

The Blazers also feature Papa Gassama, who played basketball for Mountain State, as well as four former Concord players, four players from Bluefield College (Va.) and two from Bluefield State.

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