When you walk into the historic Anderson gym, you can’t help but look up. 5 Mr. Basketballs played for this program. Those banners hang proudly up on the wall near the gym – Indiana national champion and LA Lakers champion Ray Tolbert, Purdue great Troy Lewis and 1993 Kojak Fuller, to name a few. But the program hasn’t been like that in years. 2nd year head coach Donnie Bowling, in from Indianapolis Manual, is looking to change that.
“We think we can be decent this year and the program back to being respectable”, he says, There is that word, “decent” again, a coach’s favorite. The Indians were 11-11 last year but made a run to the sectional finals before losing to Mount Vernon. But after a 25-1 record in June, which included wins over Tindley, Blackhawk Christian, Fort Wayne North, Lafayette Jeff, the expectations are higher than decent.
“We want to win our conference, win sectionals and then see how far we can go in the tournament”, says senior guard Ty Wills. Wills averaged 17.6 points last year to lead the Indians, but he’s not alone. Junior guard Ahmere Carson, originally from Chicago, averaged 13 points, Jaquan Ingram 11 points, Cedric Anderson 10 points and Jaylen Murphy 8 points. 6’6″ senior Sean Paige also returns this year. There is plenty of scoring in the arsenal.
You can see the athleticism as Anderson is guided through open gym by Bowling. Wills stands out and can get any shot he wants. Great size. He has a visit to Lincoln Memorial coming up and interest from NAIA programs in the state. Carson is a bucket. He looks ready to have some big games this year with the way he shoots. “In Chicago, we mainly just got up and down, but here we run a lot of sets”, he said.
The player that impressed me the most for his age was Damien King, a 6’4″ freshman. He made his presence felt on both ends and was aggressive. One of the assistants said he would likely play JV. No sir. Not from what I saw. But Anderson has plenty of debt. I don’t see King waiting long to get into the rotation.
Look for Anderson to improve on that 11-11 record from last year. Can they bring the city back to prominence? It’s a lofty goal, but they have the talent and coach to do it.
