UTM hoops class has royal ties

Five more men’s basketball players have signed on the dotted line to join the UT Martin program Skyhawk head coach Jason James has announced.
And one comes from a high school with a royal pedigree.
Khristian Taylor of St. Vincent-St. Mary High (Akron, Ohio) — the alma mater of NBA star LeBron “King” James — is one of the incoming freshmen headed to UTM. Little Rock, Ark., product Myles Taylor is the other.
The junior college transfers among the recent five signees are Memphis product Corderio Maclin, Jeremy Washington of Little Rock and Eli York from West Covina, Ca.
“I am very excited about our new players,” James said. “We have a good mix of young guys and older guys. We had a need to add depth to our frontcourt and backcourt, and with this class we did that. These players fit well with our returning guys. They are great young men who are exceptional students and athletes.
“I give all of the credit for this class to our assistant coaches Cornelius Jackson, Dylan Dudley and Antwuan Holloway; they have done a tremendous job of identifying these players and working hard to develop relationships with them. Our returning guys have done a good job of making them feel welcome. This was a great team effort by the whole UT Martin basketball program to sign very good basketball players and great people.”
Khristian Taylor helped to lead the Fighting Irish to their 10th regional title and sixth state championship, which is the second-most for one program in Ohio history.
He was one of Ohio’s McDonald’s All-American nominees his senior season. St. Vincent-St. Mary produced a 74-28 record and two state titles in Taylor’s four seasons, including winning 13 of the last 14 games this season, culminating with a 57-46 victory over Dayton Thurgood Marshall in the state title game.
Attending the same high school as fellow UT Martin signee Jeremy Washington, Myles Taylor helped Hall High School in Little Rock to back-to-back state championships and the team was one point shy of winning three consecutive titles. In fact, Taylor played in the state finals in all four years of high school (three at Hall, one at Lonoke High School).
Maclin — a product of Ridgeway in Memphis — has spent the last two seasons for head coach Bill Muse at nationally-ranked Connors State in Warner, Okla., where the Cowboys have posted a 56-8 record.
Entering this year, Maclin was ranked as the 52nd best national junior college prospect on Rivals.com JucoJunction Top 150 list.
As a sophomore, he averaged 7.3 points, 3.9 rebounds and 0.8 blocks while shooting a team-best 60.1 percent from the floor in 29 games.
Alongside Maclin, Washington has bolstered junior college powerhouse Connors State’s frontcourt the last two seasons, playing in 62 games. This past season, Washington averaged 9.7 points and 6.6 rebounds per game while shooting 49 percent from the field and 73 percent from the free throw line.
York comes to the Skyhawks from Mount San Antonio College in Walnut, Ca., where he helped to lead the Mounties to back-to-back South Coast Conference championships.
Playing for head coach Allen Caveness, York helped Mt. SAC to a 48-11 record and 19-2 mark in league play in his two-year career, including a No. 1 national ranking. Last season, he was an All-SCC first team selection after averaging 11.0 points, 5.5 rebounds and a team-high 1.8 blocks per game, shooting 54.6 percent from the floor in 24 games.
These four signees join Martez Harris (Louisville) in the 2011 signing class. These five players will officially make their debuts in a UT Martin uniform Nov. 11 when the Skyhawks will travel to Big East opponent Louisville in the 2011-12 season opener.

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