KFDM COOP Posted November 2, 2008 Report Posted November 2, 2008 Cole, LSC-PA launch new era By Cody Pastorella The Port Arthur News The Lamar State College-Port Arthur Seahawks are entering a basketball season of many firsts, starting with their first season under new head coach Jerre Cole, a 15-year coaching veteran who has served as both an assistant and head coach at many levels. This year, the Seahawks are also making the jump from NJCAA Division III to NJCAA Division I. LSC-PA has joined the Region XIV Conference, which by objective opinions may be the best league in NJCAA with schools such as Angelina, San Jacinto, Blinn, Southern University and Panola College. With the jump to Division I, the Seahawks are also allowed to give out scholarships for the first time in school history. Cole used them to bring in freshman point guard Josh Wasington of Baton Rouge and 6-8 sophomore forward Tim Hamlin of Boston. Washington and Hamlin are the only two Seahawks who are not from the Houston/Southeast Texas area. From Houston are freshmen D'Jameon Stearns and Joseph Franklin and Adrian Fontenot is out of Baytown Sterling High School. The rest of Cole's roster is made up of local talent, including Jamel Douriso of Port Neches-Groves, Jason Williamson and George Williamson of Vidor, Adam Sanchez of Bridge City, Dallas Bean of Mauriceville, Jacoby Joseph and Stephen Moten of Ozen High School, Jacovin Buckner of Memorial High School and Lincoln Charleston of Central High School. Cole said Buckner and Charleston will be redshirted this season. The first year mentor, whose coaching background includes stops California, Kansas, Arizona and Missouri, said he his team can be competitive this year, despite the odds stacked against his Seahawks. LSC-PA is picked to finish last in the conference. Even so, 12 of the 14 teams in the conference qualify for the postseason. Cole's goals are to crack the top 12. He feels that is doable. LSC-PA finished 2007-08 in at 13-15 overall and 6-6 in the Metro Athletic Conference. That 6-6 record was good enough to have the Seahawks finish fourth in the league in just their second year as a program. Returning from that team are both the Williamson brothers and Douriso. Cole said those three guys have really been great to have around for both athletic and leadership reasons. "They have really tried to lead this team by example, even though they are as unfamiliar with my system as any of the other players,†Cole said. “But those are the guys who are coming back and it is their team so to speak. I've enjoyed having them here. We have a great bunch of guys here, hard working and talented. I really like what we have," Cole said. He added that in all his stops as a coach this is the first time he finds himself in an area with an abundance of local talent. "That will make my job so much easier. Not having to travel all over the country to find players, will give me more time to work on other parts of this program," Cole said. The only setback so far to this first year was the loss of September due to hurricane evacuations. His team lost a lot of conditioning in that span. He also said that the lost time may have affected some of his team's rebounding in their preseason matchups. He said in two preseason games, the Seahawks have been outrebounded considerably. Cole went on to say he feels as if most of the rebounding problems have come from some of the players not being completely familiar with his offensive and defensive styles. "Most of these guys are still trying to adjust. Offensively, we play a style of offense that puts us in some bad positions to get rebounds. All that means is that we are just going to have to work harder with boxing out. We haven't been boxing out like we need to." As optimisitic as Cole is about the future of the basketball program, he said he hopes the community will be supportive and patient. He added that former LSC-PA coach Don Bryson did a tremendous job getting the program to where it was before Cole was hired. "I know there are going to be some growing pains and we have a long way to go but I don't think it is unreasonable for us to be competitve this year,†he said. “We have a lot of tough competition early, games that we should get a lot of work in and games that should help us grow confidence," Cole said. “This is a tough conference but if we stay focused and continue to get better, there are going to be some teams that press at the end of the season and maybe we can do enough to make the playoffs this year." The Seahawks start the season Monday in Shreveport, where they will take on Southern University at 6 p.m. LSC-PA's first home game will also be against Southern University. That matchup will be on Nov. 11 at 7 p.m. The Seahawks first conference game will be Nov. 25 at Lon Morris College in Jacksonville at 7 p.m. Schedule: Nov. 3 — at Southern University, 6 p.m. Nov. 6 — at Lone Star College, 7 p.m. Nov. 11 — Southern University, 7 p.m. Nov. 14 — at Lone Star College, 7 p.m. Nov. 15 — at Cedar Valley College, 3 p.m. Nov. 18 — Lone Star College, 7 p.m. Nov. 22 — at Lon Morris College, 7 p.m.
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