St. Andrews’ Garrett McRae (grey jersey) drives into the paint as Bryan’s Gene Holmes (black jersey) defends during a Feb. 4 game last season in Laurinburg.
File photo
LAURINBURG — The St. Andrews Knights men’s basketball team hasn’t had a roster that’s been made up of predominantly upperclassmen since the 2019-20 season.
That’s set to change this year, however, as St. Andrews head coach Randy Hernandez utilized the transfer portal to help build an experienced team with seven juniors and seniors each and just four sophomores and no freshmen to improve upon last year’s 4-23 record.
“I feel good,” Hernandez said on the upcoming season. “I think that we (have) more depth. (We are) a little bit more athletic, for sure. It’s probably more balanced overall.”
Four transfers were brought in during the offseason by Hernandez and the Knights.
Guards Justin Hodges (Caldwell Community College) and Patrick McLaughlin (Pitt Community College) will add depth to an already-talented backcourt, and forwards Jeremiah Dickerson (Mid-Atlantic Christian University) and Naqaua Kershaw (Davidson-Davie Community College) are expected to help bolster the defense with their length to cut down St. Andrews’ average of 88 points allowed per game last season.
Dickerson is 6 feet 4 inches tall while Kershaw is 6-foot-9.
“(We are) a little longer, quicker; we can defend (at) all levels now,” Hernandez said. “I know we had the length last year, but we had to slow things down a little bit. So hopefully this year, we can press up a little bit. When you have guys that played college basketball before, it makes it a lot easier to adjust (and) pick up.”
The Knights frontcourt took a hit with last year’s leading scorer and rebounder, forward Ameil Malone (20.4 points, 9.0 rebounds, 1.4 blocks), transferring to Georgia Southwestern in May and forward Duncan Lexander (10.0 points, 5.0 rebounds) no longer with the team but returns center Allan Taylor (6.5 points, 6.9 rebounds, 1.4 blocks) and forwards Quwan Barnes (4.4 points, 4.4 rebounds), Sincere Clark (4.2 points, 4.8 rebounds), Caleb Montgomery (3.3 points, 2.0 rebounds), and Mateu Escamilla (didn’t play), while forwards Tyvon Richardson (1.6 points, 1.2 rebounds) and Noah Woods-Clay (didn’t play) will redshirt.
Seven guards are back from last year for St. Andrews in Scotland County natives Garrett McRae (16.5 points, 3.5 rebounds, 3.0 assists) and Brodie Clark (8.0 points, 1.6 rebounds, 1.7 assists) along with Xzavier McFadden (14.4 points, 3.6 assists), Caleb Brown (7.1 points, 2.5 rebounds, 3.2 assists), Karldon Kelley-Williams (2.0 points), Seth Smith (didn’t record any stats), and Jalen Mcafee-Marion (didn’t play). Guard Ma’Nas Drummond (5.8 points, 2.8 rebounds, 2.5 assists), who only played four games last year, will use a medical redshirt this upcoming season.
“At one point, we were playing with teams full of freshmen and sophomores,” Brodie Clark said. “This is (my) first time here with so much depth and a lot of versatility; guys that can play a lot of positions, play a lot of different roles. So, I’m just looking forward to that experience and hoping we can get a lot of momentum this year.”
Brodie Clark started 12 games last season for the Knights while he appeared in 24, playing as the Knights’ sixth-man off the bench in the other 12. To continue growing his game, he’s been working on his off-ball skills and defense among other areas leading up to this year.
“I’ve really just worked on mastering my ability to play without the ball, given that we’ve got a lot of talented playmakers here with us this year,” Brodie Clark said. “(I’m) just looking to hit my shots more efficiently and get the ball where it needs to go and just be in the right spots defensively, working on conditioning, and being able to stay engaged the whole game.”
McRae started 26 games a season ago — the most of any St. Andrews player. His goal this year is to be more effective with the ball and cut down his average of 4.2 turnovers per game last season to help the team gain more wins.
“My main thing (is) being extremely efficient and cutting down my turnovers,” McRae said. “(Just) trying to win this season, so that’s the most motivation. We’ve got a lot of guys that we feel we can be cohesive with, just come together as a whole, and make it as far as we’ve never made it before.”
St. Andrews was voted to finish in last place out of 13 teams in the 2023-24 Appalachian Athletic Conference men’s basketball preseason poll with only 19 votes. Picked to win the conference was Union with 168 votes.
Hernandez believes this could be a turnaround year for the program, however, which hasn’t had a winning season since joining the NAIA from the NCAA in 2012 but did come close to one in the 2016-17 season at 14-17.
“They’re motivated,” Hernandez said about his team. “They know the task. They know the drill. It’s been rough. Everybody knows that. Last time we were good, I had a Freshman of the Year, which was Connor Zinaich, and we were almost .500, so it’s been a while. It’ll be nice to win one game at a time and achieve the goal that we want to achieve.”
St. Andrews’ 2023-24 campaign begins Wednesday when they host Morris.
“First game is always exciting,” McRae said. “I’m just ready to go. We’re all ready to go.”
Reach Brandon Hodge at 910-506-3171 or by email at bhodge@laurinburgexchange.com. Follow him on X (formerly Twitter) at @BrandonHSports.