KC BACK IN ACTION SATURDAY| Rangers resume conference schedule at Lee; home Wednesday
By SHAWN CHRISTOPHER
Special to ETBlitz.com
Kilgore College’s Rangers already returned from the Christmas break on Dec. 31, with a win over the University of St. Thomas junior varsity.
But that was last year. 😊
Coach Robert Byrd and the Rangers are back in action Saturday, and they jump right back in to their Region XIV Conference schedule. KC heads to Baytown to take on Lee College, a 4 p.m. tip-off.
KC is 7-5 on the season so far, with a 4-3 record at home and 3-2 on the road. They’re 1-3 in conference play. That win came back on Dec. 7 at Lamar State-Port Arthur (70-56). The Rangers had opened their conference schedule at home against Trinity Valley a few days before, falling 83-52. And in the days before the Christmas break, they dropped a pair of games: at Navarro College (73-69) on Dec. 11, then at home against Blinn (74-57) on Dec. 14.
KC took two weeks off, then won their game over the St. Thomas JV, 84-58, on New Year’s Eve. Cameroon Woodberry went off in that one for the Rangers, scoring 27 points. Cahmai Crosby had 16 points, nine assists, eight rebounds, and four steals.
Also for the Rangers in the win on Tuesday: Bryson Holmes and Abdullah Olajuwon each had nine points – Olajuwon (yes, the son of former NBA great Hakeem Olajuwon) had six rebounds, two assists and two steals, and Holmes had four rebounds, an assist, two steals and a blocked shot.
Nekabari Mii had eight points and three rebounds for KC. Savod Godwin had seven points, three rebounds, and an assist; Kaiden Myers had four points, two rebounds, five assists, two steals and blocked two shots; Ty Hurndon also had four points, and had four rebounds and a steal; and Jonathan Byrd didn’t score, but finished with seven assists, six rebounds and a steal.
The Rangers’ upcoming schedule looks like this: they visit Lee as mentioned, on Saturday; they come back home and host Paris Junior College on Wednesday night at 7 p.m.; and then they play at Coastal Bend next Saturday, Jan. 11, at 4.
Here’s the complete KC men’s basketball schedule: 2024-25 Men’s Basketball Schedule – Kilgore College.
Coach Byrd is in his second season as the head coach at KC after serving as head coach at Coastal Bend, and coaching CBC to its best single season in program history.
He led KC to a 24-9 overall record his first season, and to a 12-7 conference record, but got the Rangers to the semifinals of the Region XIV Tournament in Tyler.
Assisting Byrd this season is Derek Alleman, former Kilgore and Kilgore College standout Thomas Hattaway, and Jonathan Hoard.
The men’s roster for this season, numbers in parentheses:
Cameroon Woodberry (0), a 6-foot-5 freshman guard from Houston; Jonathan Byrd (1), a 5-10 freshman point guard from Lancaster, Penn.; Cahmai Crosby (2), a 6-3 sophomore point from Kansas City, Kan.; Kaden Meyers (4), a 6-3 freshman point from Allen; Bryson Holmes (5), a 6-6 freshman wing from Houston Klein Oak; Chidi Umeh (10), a 6-8 sophomore guard from Dallas Lake Highlands; Abdullah Olajuwon (11), a 6-5 sophomore guard from Houston Clements; Aleksa Lekic (14), a 6-10 sophomore forward from Podgorica, Montenegro; Joshua Olutayo (21), a 6-7 freshman forward from Abuja, Nigeria; Nekabari Mii (22), a 6-5 freshman forward from Houston Travis; Ty Hurndon (23), a 6-9 freshman forward from Crandall; and Savod Godwin (24), a 6-5 freshman forward from Newark, N.J.
Right now, through 12 games, the Rangers have averaged just under 74 points per game and are hitting right at 43 percent of their shots.