The Huntsville Item, Huntsville, TX

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February 9, 2010

College Scene: Filling a role

Irving making his mark as stopper

By Gene Schallenberg

No matter what sport, ask any how player how they feel about being a role player.

In a lot of cases, it’s not met too kindly as it comes with a negative connotation.

But there are certain players who will do anything they can to help the team.

One thing that can’t be taught is selflessness. Coaches are especially happy when they get those players because they don’t come around often.

Brookhaven College men’s basketball head coach Kevin Hurst is one of those coaches and Marcus irving is one of those players.

The former Huntsville Hornet may not fill up the stat sheet, averaging less than two points a game and has eight steals in 20 games, but Hurst knows that his team would be in worse shape without him.

“He’s done a great job here,” Hurst said on Friday of his freshman.

Irving’s task when called upon is a tough one. Often, his assignment is to go out and play tough defense.

“Marcus is who we would call our defensive stopper,” Hurst said. “He is very able. He’s real versatile and can guard either the number one, two or three position. Basically what he does for us is shut down whoever he guards. He has gotten much better as the season has progressed.”

Brookhaven has 11 wins and 14 losses on the season and is 2-4 in region play.

“He’s one of the most coachable guys we have,” Hurst added.



Joining new teams

While the basketball season is winding down, baseball and softball teams will get under way soon. Several former Hornets and Lady Hornets have started practice and will be playing games soon.

After playing softball for two years with Blinn College, Bre’Neka O’Bryant and Caley Jeter have moved on.

O’Bryant will play for Houston-Victoria and Jeter will head even further south to play for the Texas A&M-Corpus; Christi Islanders. Houston-Victoria opens the season Saturday in a doubleheader against San Jacinto College. The Islanders head to Hawaii where they’ll play Stanford in the first round of the Paradise Classic on Thursday.

Sara Vaughn looks to fill the void at Blinn left by O’Bryant and Jeter. The Lady Bucs open their season on Friday at Temple College.

Around the diamond, Tyler Park, who hit .365 for Cisco Junior College last season, aims at making a solid contribution with McNeese State and Caleb Smith joins the Sam Houston State pitching staff.

The Cowboys start the season on Feb. 19 in a three-game series against Valparaiso. SHSU will take on TCU in a three-game series in Fort Worth on Feb. 19.

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