All-State forward from RHS commits to Drake
Posted on Tuesday, September 16, 2008
Hawley
ROGERS — Elaine Benes and Aaron Hawley are in agreement: They love the Drake.
Hawley, an All-State forward for the Mountaineers, has committed to play basketball for the Drake Bulldogs according to Rogers head coach Marty Barnes.
The 6-foot-7 Hawley made his decision after returning Monday from an official visit to Belmont (Tenn. ) University in Nashville.
Both of those schools played in the NCAA Tournament last spring. Barnes says Hawley will sign a national letter of intent during the early signing period in November.
“ He’d planned to take a couple of other trips to St. Louis and to Yale and he really liked Belmont but he liked the Drake Bulldogs better, ” Barnes says.
Drake was nationally ranked last season and posted a school-record 28-5 record, advancing to the NCAA Tournament for the first time in 37 years. The success, however, for the Missouri Valley Conference school in Des Moines, Iowa, came with a price. Keno Davis, 36, was named national coach of the year by the Associated Press and the Sporting News following his only season as Drake’s head coach but he left in April for the same job at Providence. Mark Phelps, associate head coach at Arizona State the last two years, was named as his replacement. Hawley, All-Conference as a sophomore after averaging 12. 1 points per game, led the Mounties with 15. 2 ppg last season as Rogers went 21-8. The Mounties were beaten 36-34 by eventual champion Little Rock Catholic in the state tournament quarterfinals in Conway.
The Mounties begin the 2008-09 season Thursday, Nov. 20, at home against Russellville.
FEEDBACK:
Something to say about this topic? Submit a Letter to the Editor online
