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Owens Men’s Basketball Prepares for the Conference Season
Nicholas Huenefeld/ Outlook Reporter
nicholas_huenefeld@pipeline.owens.edu
When I spoke to Owens Men’s Basketball coach Jim Welling, I came
to realize that he truly cares about his team and his players care about
him. A great example was earlier this season when Coach Welling notched
win number 500 of his career at Owens against Hillsborough on Nov. 6 during
the championship game of the Tip Off Classic. The team played extremely
hard that night and it was a great sight to see the players and coaches
celebrating on the court after the game because of one man and his legacy.
Currently their record stands at 16-2 overall and they are ranked fifth
in the country according to the NJCAA poll. They are also 2-0 in the league.
Coach Welling says, “We haven’t reached our full potential
yet and that is a good because the right time to peak is in February or
March.” He also stresses proper execution and doing the right thing.
Coach Welling has a great group of returning players this year. “I’m
really happy for the returning group of players we have with guys like
Robinson, Tisdale, Logan, Switzer, Calo, Jeremy Diekman, Washington, Davis,
and Hubbard. They give us a lot of experience this year,” Welling
says.
He says starting guard Jerimy Robinson, from Elkhart, Indiana is the leader
of the team. Robinson is averaging 13 points per game, 4.2 assists per
game, and is leading the team with 2.4 steals per game. “Robinson
and Tisdale have been a great tandem for us this year,” says Coach
Welling.
“The league is possibly the strongest I’ve ever seen during
my time here at Owens with as many as six teams legitimately contending
for the league title this year with Cuyahoga, Sinclair, Columbus State,
Cincinnati State, Lakeland and us,” explains Coach Welling.
“An example of how tough the league is this year would be Cuyahoga
last year who finished #4 with an 8-6 record in the league but went on
to win the regional and national titles.”
He also says, “Our goals are to finish first, second, or third in
the league and be undefeated at home, because conference finish is important
for regional seeding. I feel we have the ability to win the league, but
a lot of things have to happen and things such as injuries can’t
be foreseen.”
Coach Welling stresses the importance of having a raucous atmosphere at
home games saying, “We need to have around 500-1000 students per
game and to have it become a circus at the SHAC.” He says the cheerleaders
have been doing a great job this year, perhaps the best he’s seen
in his time here. He said the fact that the cheerleaders throw mini basketballs
at the home games that give 5-10% off at the Owens Bookstore is a great
reason for students to come out and see the home games.
As far as stats go this season, the leading scorer so far is Larry Logan
Jr. at 13.5 points per game while pulling down 9.9 rebounds per game as
well. “We have five guys averaging between 8 and 11 points a game
in Tisdale, Sellers, Washington, Davis, and Miller,” says Coach
Welling.
Starting Jan. 26 the men have five home regular season games left and
all the student fan support they can get would be tremendous. On Jan.
26 they play Cuyahoga, Jan. 29 against Columbus State, Feb. 5 against
Clark State, Feb. 12 against Edison, and Feb. 19 against Cincinnati State.
A noteworthy point to make is the fact that four of those games are against
teams that are contending for the league title.