Let’s win two:  The Rock Valley College men’s basketball team is back for another season and loading up for a run for a second consecutive national title. Last year’s team is shown here with trophy. (RVC photo)

Rock Valley reloads for repeat national title run

Rock Valley College returns to the court with more size, more depth, and more experience than a year ago when they set multiple school records en route to winning the program’s first NJCAA national championship in its 48 year history.

Head coach Craig Doty returns NJCAA national player of the year Jared Mayes and the NJCAA leader in three-point shots made, sharp-shooter Frank Cimino. Doty also brings in highly touted players in Elijah Williams, Maurice Jackson and Tony Evans.

“We like our team,” Doty said. “We are ahead of where we were last year at this time but like every team in October, we have a long way to go. Our guys understand this is a process and it isn’t an easy one. College athletics, specifically men’s basketball, is tough. The league is reloaded with talent and we are playing more than half of our schedule against scholarship division 1 and division 2 opponents. There is a target on our back.”

The Golden Eagles moved on all four sophomores from last year’s national championship team.

Tairhe Turner (Auburn) signed a full-scholarship to Williams Woods University (NAIA) in Fulton, MO.  Jack Harrison and Brandt Voiles were offered and accepted scholarships to Post University (NCAA Division II) in Waterbury, Conn. after their performances at the national tournament.  Keenan Franklin liked winning a national championship so much at Rock Valley that he decided to join forces with the 2014 NCAA Division III national champions, University of Wisconsin-Whitewater.

Returnees, meanwhile, are expected to again be impact players.

Mayes will anchor the Golden Eagles lineup after averaging 19 points  & 5.7 rebounds last season. The sophomore wing looks to be the only player since Cleanthony Early, who played for Wichita State the past two seasons and was drafted by the New York Knicks this summer, to win back-to-back NJCAA National Player of the Year honors. The first team All-American, All-Region, and All-Conference sophomore is one of the most highly sought after prospects in all of junior college basketball.

Shooting guard Frank Cimino and stretch big man Ben Grygiel are also key returners for RVC. Cimino shot 112-244 (45.9%) from beyond the three-point arc last season, which ranked him #1 in 3PTM and #12 in 3PT%. In the first round of the national tournament, Cimino torched Nassau CC (NY) for 26 points while going 5-7 from three. Cimino’s best game of the season came against conference foe, Milwaukee Area Tech, when he scored 31 points including going 7-9 from behind the arc. Grygiel, who started 19 of RVC’s 35 games last season, averaged 9.3 points  while grabbing 4.5 rebounds. His best game of the season came in a 89-66 win over conference opponent Harper College as he scored 27 points including 25 points in the first half. He also finished with nine rebounds and was a perfect 5-5 from the three point line.

Elijah Williams, Maurice Jackson and Tony Evans are the feature newcomers for the Golden Eagles.  Williams, a 6’7,” 255 lb. post has been away from the game for the past two seasons after playing his freshman year at RVC in 2011-12.  “Elijah is a game-changer inside the paint,” Doty commented.  “He is very big but also very athletic.  He is a post who wants to be a post; he knows his identity.  He will be a force in our league.”

Maurice Jackson arrives from Belvidere where he played for head coach Aaron Pearson.  He is a small, yet explosive point guard who looks to replace LT Davis at the point guard position as Davis is redshirting this season. “Maurice was an outstanding basketball and football player in high school.  He is tough, smart, and a great leader.  He has already assumed a captain role and has played very well in our pre-season exhibition schedule,” Doty said.

The Golden Eagles secured East big man Tony Evans early in the spring signing period.  “He rebounds like a man,” Doty said.  “My assistant, Coach Lavery, did a great job recruiting Tony.  We were at his games every night last season when we didn’t have our own game to play.  He was the focal point of our recruiting class and he has proven to be worth it so far in the pre-season.  He has been a force in the paint and we are really excited about his future.”  Evans played for head coach Roy Sackmaster at Rockford East High School.

RVC returns many additional players who have been part of Doty’s program over the past two years.  Guard Quentin Canty (Belvidere) and big man Marcus Holman (Hononegah) return after helping lead the Golden Eagles to a 7th place finish in the 2013 National Tournament and redshirting last year.  Canty started for Doty at point guard as a freshman averaging 10.3 points  to go along with 3.5 rebounds while shooting 40% from 3PT.  Holman appeared in 34 of the 35 games averaging 2.1 points  and 2.6 rebounds as a depth big man during his freshman campaign.

Two key freshman who redshirted in their first season at RVC in 2013-14 and will be suiting up this year are Dalton Payton (Byron) and Isaiah Box (Rockford East).  Payton is a long, 6’6” wing with perimeter skills and tremendous upside.  Box starred at both Rockford Christian and Rockford East during his high school career and will compete for time at the point guard position.

The Golden Eagles men’s basketball program has been led by 10 different head coaches since 1965.

RVC has made the national tournament three times (2014, 2013, 2001).  Rease Binger started the program in 1965 playing as a club team. Chuck Behrends took over the following year as the program became an official NJCAA member.  Behrends led Rock Valley College until 1983 (17 seasons) and is currently the all-time winningest coach at the school with 298 wins.

Carl Armato, who was head coach from 1989 until 2001 (12 seasons), is the only other coach besides Doty to lead the program to the national tournament and is second in career wins with 216.

–News Bulletin news sources