They’re number one. William Penn’s men’s basketball team is the preseason NAIA favorite according to Street and Smith’s Basketball Yearbook. The Statesmen are coming off a 30-5 season that saw them get to the NAIA Final Four. William Penn Coach John Henry talks about getting the kudos.
“It’s a lot of expectations to live up to. But quite honestly, you could coach for 30-40 years and not be ranked number one, so we try to embrace it and enjoy it. Not everyone can say they’re ranked number one.”
What will be the strong points of this year’s Statesmen? “We have size. We have a lot of size between Omar Sherman being 6’9”, Mario Manuel being 6’8”. Nick Fuller, a transfer from Virginia Tech is almost 6’10”. Then Isaac Sanders and Wade Votrubek to go along with Eddie Daley, all those guys are 6’6” or taller.”
Omar Sherman is a transfer from Louisiana Tech. He averaged nine and a half points and five rebounds in the 2016-17 season. Street and Smith’s has Sherman on their preseason first team All-America team. William Penn opens its men’s basketball season two weeks from tonight with an exhibition against Southeastern Community College in Burlington. Their first home games will be an exhibition against Indian Hills Community College October 24 and October 27 against Association Free Lutheran Bible School.
Switching to soccer, William Penn’s men had to sit out a weather delay of nearly an hour Wednesday nigh t (10/3) and then had to play overtime before getting a 4-3 victory over Grand View at Lacey Recreation Complex. Freshman Bernardo Lima scored a minute and a half into the OT for the win. Another freshman, Wallace Nyamunda scored twice for the Statesmen in regulation. The Penn men are now 4-1 in the Heart of America Conference and 9-2 overall.
And the Statesmen women ended their four game losing streak with a 2-1 victory over Grand View in Oskaloosa. Hannah Baker and Brittney Severson scored the goals. William Penn’s women now 1-4 in the conference and 5-5-1 overall. The William Penn soccer teams travel to Graceland on Saturday.
