History will be made Friday night when a professional basketball team plays a home game in Logan County for the first time. The Bowling Green Hornets of the sparkling new Central Basketball League will make their debut Friday night at Russellville High School’s Jim Young Gymnasium. The Dayton Air Strikers will be the opponent.
Actually, the students and faculty of Russellville High School will get the first look at the team when Hornets’ owner Waseem Moorad introduces some of the key play at a 2:30 p.m. pep rally Friday. Moorad predicts the RHS students are going to like the team and some of the announcements he has for them.
Meanwhile Moorad promises entertainment galore at the Hornets’ home games. He was in the lobby of deGraffenried Auditorium Thursday, checking out a much improved concession stand, the large shot clocks that will be at each end of the floor, even the bright green striped costume the Hornet mascot will wear. He liked what he saw as he talked with RHS Athletic Director/Hornets Assistant Coach Nathan Thompson and with Mary and Lucas Celsor, who are coordinating the team’s relationship with the school.
“Everybody’s going to have fun when they are here. We’ll have promotions going on throughout the game, and some of the people attending are going to go home with free things, such as tee shirts,” says the Virginia businessman.
Moorad is so pleased with the cooperation he’s getting at RHS that he promises that the team will do even more to help the school and its students.
Some of the top people in the CBL will be in Russellville for Friday’s opener. In fact League Director of Operations John Guy of Peoria, Ill. was at RHS Thursday afternoon, checking things out and talking with The LoJo about the origins of the CBL and his plans for its growth in popularity and in teams.
CBL Director of Officials Don Carter of Hendersonville, Tenn., not only will be present at the game but he will be one of the three officials working the contest. He knows the area, since his dad is a retired professor at Western Kentucky University.
Three of the charter players on the Hornets’ roster are former WKU Toppers. Point guard Jamal Crook and center Teng Akol were members of the last two Sun Belt Conference Tournament champion teams from The Hill while guard Kahlil McDonald played a key role in Coach Ray Harper’s team’s NCAA run as a senior in 2012. They are expected to attend the afternoon pep rally at RHS.
Three former RHS students are part of the team. Tony Key, who started for the Panthers on two state tournament teams in 1998 and 2000, joins Akol as 6’11” post players for the Hornets. Coach Thompson was his teammate on both those teams, as well as being the shooting forward on Coach Phil Todd’s second straight Final Four team in 2001. The head coach is Otis Key, Tony’s older brother and the standout center of Coach Todd’s first regional finalist team in 1992. Coach Key is a former professional player, an eight-year member of the Harlem Globetrotters, and a league champion professional basketball coach with the now defunct Kentucky Bisons.
Another local member of the team is former Todd Central player Andrae Woodard, who played collegiately for Thomas Moore.
The most honored player on the team is Vic Moses, who finished his career at Georgetown College in grand style this spring. He scored 14 points and grabbed 13 rebounds in the championship game in leading the Tigers to the NAIA national championship game. Topping the nation in field goal percentage (66.8 percent) and rebounding (324 total boards, 9.82 per game), he was named NAIA National Player of the Year. He is a graduate of Henry Clay High School in Lexington.
Joining Moses as a Hornets player will be one of his assistant coaches at Georgetown, Daniel Price, a former Pikeville College player who has played professionally six years, including in the NBA D League. He was ABA Defensive Player of the Year while playing for the Mississippi Blues. He has been a coach since 2006.
Game time Friday is 7 p.m. Advance tickets are available at http://www.centralbasketballleague.com/tickets They will also be available at a slightly higher price at the gate.
The remainder of the roster and the schedule follows:
Schedule
Friday, April 26: Dayton @RHS, 7 p.m.
Saturday, April 27: @ St. Louis, 6 p.m.
Friday, May 3: St. Louis @ RHS, 7 p.m.
Sunday, May 5: @ Dayton, 4 p.m.
Saturday, May 11: River City @ Peoria, 7 p.m.
Sunday, May 19: @ Nashville, 2 p.m.
Friday, May 31: Dayton @ RHS, 7 p.m.
Saturday, June 1: @ Dayton, 6 p.m.
Saturday, June 8: Middle Tennessee @ RHS, 8 p.m.
Saturday, June 15: River City @ RHS, 8 p.m.
Saturday, June 22: Middle Tennessee @ RHS, 8 p.m.
Sunday, June 23: @ Nashville, 2 p.m.
Roster
Teng Akol
Height 6'11"
Weight 225 lbs.
Hometown Wian, Sudan
School Western Kentucky University
Age 22
Runtreal Braxton
Height 6'4"
Weight 230 lbs.
Hometown Hopkinsville, KY
School Cumberland University
Age 27
Jamal Crook
Height 6'3"
Weight 185 lbs.
Hometown Louisville
School Western Kentucky University
Age 22
Saville Evans
Height 6'4"
Weight 237 lbs.
Hometown Nashville
Age 30
Tyrone Green
Height 6'3"
Weight 215 lbs.
Hometown Monticello
School Southern Illinois University
Age 26
Tony Key
Height 6'11"
Weight 280 lbs.
Hometown Russellville, KY
School Los Angeles C.C.
Age 30
Zamarius McClendon
Height 6'6"
Weight 225 lbs.
Hometown Clarksville
School Tennessee Wesleyan College
Age 22
Kahlil McDonald
Height 6'3"
Weight 220 lbs.
Hometown Brooklyn, NY
School Western Kentucky University
Age 23
Vic Moses
Height 6'6"
Weight 255 lbs.
Hometown Lexington
School Georgetown College
Age 22
Daniel Price
Height 6'2"
Weight 220 lbs.
Hometown Jackson, Miss.
School Pikeville College
Age 33
Michael Stone
Height 6'3"
Weight 195 lbs.
Hometown Lexington
School Transylvania University
Age 22
Justin Taylor
Height 6'3"
Weight 203 lbs.
Hometown Lexington
School Tennessee Tech
Age 27
Andrae Woodard
Height 5'10"
Weight 190 lbs.
Hometown Allensville,
School Thomas Moore College
Age 29