Greensboro Sports

Posted By Andy Durham on November 4, 2009

I spoke with Coach James Abell this morning and he is expecting big things from his Red Raiders this season, but it will have to come from some small packages…..

HPA will not be big and they have lost two key players from last year’s squad that fell in the West Regionals to Forrestview at the Greensboro Coliseum Special Events Center. Gone are Charles Godwin now at Winston-Salem State playing football and Tony Washington who moved on the Appalachian State for football.

Washington was a guard and Godwin was a big man on the inside for HPA and this year the bigs will be few and far in between. Big man Terry Biles, who was a starter last season for Coach Abell at 6’4, is out at least until January/February, with a torn MCL.

The good part kicks in for HPA when you see that backcourt. They may be smaller up front, but with Corban Collins and Darius Rogers in the backcourt, the Red Raiders will have the ball in good hands.

Collins and Rogers are definitely among the Raiders top three after the first two days of practice…

Collins had played football up until this season, but not anymore, as the 6’1 combo guard-SG/PG is set for full-time basketball. Collins is among the top sophomores in the state and he does it all with his ball handling and a much improved shot. Collins started every game at guard, as a freshman for High Point Andrews….Collins is the real deal.

Rogers at 5’9 is a pure PG and he is the speed and quickness of the team. Rogers has the handles and is possibly the best defensive player for his size in the area. The junior has shown much improvement since last season and he worked very hard in the summer months…..

Joining Collins and Rogers, among the Top 3 players for HP Andrews, is Torian Showers, who at 6’4 is long and lean and he has the wing-span to cover the lane, but he does not like to go inside and bang, he loves the life out on the wing…Showers will have to step up and go inside early in the year and give the Red Raiders some rebounding help since that is the one area where HPA needs to get to work….Rebounding.

Alex Smith is another wing player at 6’2 and he joins the Red Raiders this year, coming in from the Veritas Academy. He along with Jamie Smith and Jalen Ford help to round out Coach Abell’s top 6 through the first 2 days, Coming out of Practice…….

The Varsity football players that should help out once the playoffs are over, include senior Quan Stevenson, junior Mark Johnson and 6’3-6’4 Jeremy Wright….

High Point Andrews finds itself off to a good start, after the first two days of Coming out of Practice and they will get deeper once those football players join in at the practice sessions. Right now after some cuts, the Raiders are working with 18-19 players in practice, minus the Varsity and JV football boys….

Andrews, under the leadership of James Abell, will be a contender for the State 2-A title and in their PAC 6 Conference they will find stiff competition from Trinity and WS Carver.

That’s it for us and another round of, “Coming out of Practice”.

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