Written by Stephanie Gregory
One of the pleasant surprises from last year was the arrival of guard Stephen Blake. Although Blake is just 5-foot-9-inches, he has been receiving plenty of playing time thus far in the season.
Blake transferred in from North Arkansas College because he knew that due to his height he was not able to be recruited to larger schools.
“My height was probably the only reason I didn’t get offers from the schools I was interested in right out of high school,” Blake said.
He also said that by going to junior college it would prove that he has the ability to play at a college level.
“I knew that going to a junior college kept the door open for the places I was interested in,” Blake said.
While Blake played for the North Arkansas College he led the team to an average of 16.2 points per game, shot 51 percent from the field, 42 percent from three-point range, and 88 percent from the free throw line. His most impressive game he played was against St. Louis Community College-Florissant Valley, where he scored a career high of 45 points from the field and hit eight threes. Since coming to Harding, Blake has averaged 8.2 points per game and four assists per contest.
With an increased role this season comes increased responsibility, and Blake is one of the upperclassmen the Bisons will look at to lead them into a tough GSC schedule. Blake said that he believes the team will be able to have a good run in the conference this season, and he said the team has the ability to compete in the conference championship.
“We have all the pieces for success, so it will be up to us how successful we are,” Blake said.
Blake expressed big expectations for the team this season. He said the team as a whole is starting to mesh very well together, and he feels the team will get closer as the season goes on.
“I expect us to go deep into the conference tournament and make it to the national tournament this year,” Blake said.
Since coming to Harding Blake feels that he is learning a lot from Bison basketball head coach Jeff Morgan.
“Morgan is very experienced and helps me a lot,” he said. “For the most part he lets me play through my mistakes, but I take his advice and try to apply it.”
Coach Morgan has designed some plays that will get him open shots, but he tries to get the ball to the different play makers on the team.
Blake has not played in the Rhodes Field House for long, but he has had a big impact on the 2009-2010 Bison basketball program this year. One of the biggest transitions for Blake has been playing in front of the rowdy crowds in the Rhodes Field House. Blake said playing in the Rhodes has been “awesome.” He did not know what to expect the first time he played and said he had fun playing in the field house, but more than that had fun watching the crowd.
“I didn’t know if I should expect that good of a crowd every game or not,” Blake said. “Now I have high expectations for our crowd every game.”
Blake and the Bisons will take their high expectations for home games as well as the season into their next home game Saturday Dec. 12, against Central Baptist College. Before that the Bisons will take a trip to Texas for two games.
