Thursday, January 14, 2016
YSU sophomore making most of his one D-I offer
By STEVE WILAJ
youngstown
Early in the second half of his monumental scoring night on Saturday, Cameron Morse drained a 3-pointer from the right corner. It gave him 29 points at the time and capped a 12-3 Youngstown State run that extended the Penguins’ lead over Green Bay to 11 points.
After he hit it, the sophomore guard who finished with a career-high 44 points looked up into the Beeghly Center crowd, grinned and shook his head as he jogged down the court.
No, it wasn’t aimed at anyone in particular.
It’s just part of the edge that the Flint, Mich., native takes to the court every game. And it stems from receiving only one Division I offer (YSU) coming out of Carman-Ainsworth High School in 2014.
“My high school coach told me just to keep working and everything will pay off,” said Morse, who was named first-team all-state as a senior and received offers from multiple Division II and NAIA schools in addition to YSU.
“But I feel like I was overlooked. I keep that in the back of my mind every day. Every time I go out on the court, I know I have something to prove to somebody. I know I have to give it my all, let people know who I am and help my team come out with a win.”
Considering his season so far — and especially his performance in YSU’s 103-93 win on Saturday — Morse’s name certainly has to be on college basketball’s radar.
Shooting 13 of 18 from the field and 15 of 17 at the foul line against the Phoenix, his 44 points tied the third-highest scoring total by an individual on the D-I level this season. Meanwhile, the outburst is tied for eighth-most points in a Horizon League game in conference history and ninth-most points in a game in YSU history.
Also, the 6-foot-2, 180-pounder became the first Penguins player to eclipse the 40-point mark since Reggie Kemp scored 46 in 1993.
“He’s really played well all year and he’s doing it against everybody’s best defender,” head coach Jerry Slocum said of Morse, who is averaging a team-high 18.1 ppg on 48.9 percent overall shooting and 39.1 percent 3-point shooting. “I’m really proud of his development and how much better he’s gotten.”
In the past two games for which he earned Horizon League Co-Player of the Week, Morse is averaging 28.3 ppg on 57.1 percent shooting.
Last season, he played in 17 games as a freshman, averaging six points in 15.6 minutes per game.
While Morse has been one of YSU’s top scorers for all of this season, he was recently inserted into the starting lineup on Dec. 21 at Notre Dame — the same game senior forward Bobby Hain went down with an injury. He’s started the four games after that as well and hasn’t scored less than 18 points in a single contest.
“He has the ability to make difficult shots,” sophomore point guard Francisco Santiago said. “You look at guys and say, ‘Oh that’s not really a good shot.’ But for Cam, it is.
“He just needs a little bit of room to get his shot off. So he’s a real good jump-shooter, then when he gets into the lane, he’s really good at drawing contact. ...He can pretty much score from anywhere on the floor.”
So could former YSU guard Kendrick Perry, who graduated after the 2013-14 season. He scored 1,991 points in his four-year Penguins career, averaged 21.3 ppg as a senior and notched a career-high of 35 points.
Slocum called the two guards similar in that “they both have very good basketball IQ’s and can figure out how to get you a basket.” However, he said that’s where the likeness ends.
“KP was more athletic and more off the bounce — more of the to-the-rim, elevator kind of guy,” Slocum said. “Cam shoots it better and has a little bit better jumpshot game. He can hit a three or take three or four dribbles and hit a pullup — then also get to the rim.”
Nonetheless, Morse is starting to turn heads.
After Milwaukee beat YSU on Jan. 7, Panthers head coach Rob Jeter called the Penguins guard — who logged 18 points — “one of the better players in the conference” and “an all-league player.” And now with a 44-point game under his belt, you can bet the rest of the Horizon League (and beyond) is taking notice.
It’s certainly ironic, considering no D-I school other than YSU gave Morse the time of day coming out of high school.
“I still have to stay aggressive throughout the game,” Morse said. “Sometimes I can be a decoy — scoring 44 points, they’re not gonna leave me. So that’s gonna open up shots for Francisco Santiago or Matt Donlan or Jordan Andrews.
“But for this team, I feel like I have to score the ball. So I’m always looking to score, attack, get to the free throw line or just make a play.”