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Cole Taylor Signs with Huskies

May 26, 2010

By Curtis J. Phillips

Fort McMurray CONNECT

The driving distance between Fort McMurray, Alberta and Benton Harbor, Michigan is approximately 2,407 kilometres.

For Cole Taylor it might as well be a million miles.

Taylor, 25, a recent recruit of the Keyano College Huskies men’s basketball program comes from a world where “I thought the world ended and started on my doorstep.”

There are few rags-to-riches stories in Benton Harbor where about 40% of the families live below the poverty line and 92% of the populace are African-American.

“Basketball (and football, where he was an all-star wide receiver) was my rescue,” said Cole, who along with his younger brother were raised by their mother in a single-parent family. “I’d say 50 to 55 per cent of (his male peers) went down the wrong road.”

Cole, a 5-foot-10 guard who averaged 16 points per game for the Lakeshore High School Lancers, recalls the first time that his mother told him to “fight back and stick up for himself.” He was only 12 years-old.

“This guy wanted something from us and my mother said we had to prove to them that what we had was ours and that no one was going to take it from us...my mom worked hard to put us in nice clothes and shoes. It was a pretty serious fight I had with the guy for 15 to 20 minutes.”

Taylor managed to follow the right path, spending countless hours on the gridiron and hardwood but admits that the environment was not the safest at times.

“I remember in Grade 5...I will never forget it. We were 0-8 the year before in Grade 4 and now we were 8-0 and playing a junior high for the championship. It was the second quarter and gunshots go off in the gymnasium and everyone was ducking. You could be anywhere at any moment and stuff can happen but you have to suck it up and keep going.”

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2009-2010 Awards

Mens Basketball 2009-2010 Awards

Head Coach Mike Connolly presenting

MVP: Mike Thomas

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Rookie of the Year: Lance Weslowski

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Bird Ready for Huskies Nest

By Corey Atkinson, Fort McMurray Today

Thursday Jan 28, 2010: They may not be playing a lot of games, but the Keyano Huskies men's basketball team with a Bird in the roster is worth wins on the season. Huskies men's basketball coach Mike Connolly announced yesterday they picked up point guard Colin Bird to join the program, which will play in the ACAC next season.

Bird was one of the leading scorers on the Lethbridge College Kodiaks before leaving that team at Christmastime. "We're excited about having him the opportunity to come up here," Connolly said. "He's a very talented player. High skill level — university-calibre skill level. For his personal needs, this is one of the better places for him. He has a year and a half under his belt in the ACAC already… We just added an instant two man who's going to add a lot of scoring."

In eight games with the Kodiaks, Bird scored 11.4 points per game, and team highs with 5.4 rebounds and three assists per game. The way Connolly sees it, Bird will leak out into the open court where the other guard, Mike Thomas, will be able to get him the ball."I can pretty much do anything, (and) just do what coach asks," Bird said. "I think I'll lead by example. I'm not very vocal on the court. I do listen to my teammates, so whatever they have to say, if I'm doing wrong, they'll correct me on it."

Connolly, the former University of Lethbridge Pronghorns head coach, said that he's wanted to add Bird to his program for a long time. "That gives me a lot of confidence," Bird said. "It feels good to know that he wants me to come so bad. I don't mind coming here."

He finished his last year at Kainai High School in Standoff, at 30 points per game. "He's going to be able to compliment what we have pretty well," Connolly said.

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Colin Bird (in blue)

Huskies ride Broncos to Success

This weekend saw the Keyano College Huskies Men's Basketball Team take a weekend sweep of the Olds College Broncos taking 2 games on the road. The Huskies came out friday night jumping to an early 20pt lead never to allow the host Broncos back finishing with a 10pt win of 100-90. The next day the Huskis again jumped on the host Broncos but this day the Huskies continued their focus play allowing only 22 first half and cruised to a 107-46 win. Mike Thomas (2nd year point guard) was player of note controlling the tempo and setting up several nice scoring opportunities while setting the effort defensively for the Huskies. The weekend sweep improves the Keyano College Huskies record in exhibition play to 5-4 overall. The Huskies next travel to Edmonton Dec 4-5 to take on Kings College who currently sit in 5th place in the ACAC north division.

Huskies Impressive against Vikings

The Keyano Huskies men's basketball team wanted to hit the ground running when they hit the ACAC full-time next season.

This weekend against the Augustana Vikings, the Huskies hit the ground running at the Syncrude Sport & Wellness Centre and then some, as they blew out the ACAC North team in two straight games, 89-72 Friday and 85-67 Saturday.

While the offence hummed along, it was the Huskies' defence that still gave head coach Mike Connolly some concerns.

"That's the only thing we're going to worry about," Connolly said. "It's still got some flaws in it and even though it seems like 67 points (against) is good, I feel we can still do a lot better defensively. Defence is what's going to help you win championships."