Flagler College Men’s Basketball Team Off to a Terrific Start

By Raisa Montilla | gargoyle@flagler.edu

The Flagler College men’s basketball team has had a terrific start to the 2014-2015 basketball season. According to the latest statistical rankings from the National Collegiate Athletics Association (NCAA), Flagler College men’s basketball is ranked among the best in the nation in Division II.

One of the student athletes, Jerrell Oxendine, believes that the team this year is somewhat different to last year’s team. Oxendine says that this year the team has a lot of chemistry both on and off the court.

“It’s like a family oriented program,” Oxendine said. “Everybody hangs with everybody, so everybody is pretty close and that makes the chemistry on the court better.”

Oxendine was selected as the TravelLynx Student-Athlete of the week for the period that ended on November 30. Oxendine plans to keep playing to the best of his abilities for the remainder of the season.

“I plan on keeping an open side to my teammates looking for me and giving me the ball,” Oxendine said.

Lydell Manigo, 22, believes that this year’s team, compared to last year, is more athletic. He says that overall, last year’s team was good, but that this year the team has more complete players.

“We have a lot more size on the inside, we have a lot more guys who are tougher and go at it, “ Manigo said. “We have a lot of guys who can shoot the ball.” According to the latest statistical rankings from the NCAA, Manigo is ranked third in the nation in the three-point field goal percentage in the Division II.

One of the newest members of the team, Keshaun Hamilton, had a lot of the Flagler community members anxious to see his first performance with the team. Hamilton says he is enjoying every day and every minute he is on the court with his teammates and he believes he has a lot to bring to the team.

“I think I bring leadership and hard work,” Hamilton said. “I’m working hard every day and just helping my teammates and we’re going from there.”

Assistant coach, Keith Matthews, is a former Flagler College basketball player. Matthews says that at the beginning of his job as the assistant coach he had to make some adjustments.

“Most of the guys on the team are relatively close to my age,” Matthews said. “At first it was a little weird, but now because they trust me and kind of saw me as a leader last year. It’s been a smooth transition so far.”

Matthews believes that compared to last year, this year the team is more talented and overall their ceiling is way higher, so there is a lot of more room for improvement.