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Sports

Two JuCo stars help to bolster UH roster

Burn

Jong Lee

Head coach Tom Penders announced Wednesday that the Cougars have added two more players for next year's basketball team; sophomores' Robert Lee and Tafari Toney will join the team. It's hard to say how these two will transfer their play into the division one level of play, but both have looked pretty good in their respective schools.

Lee hails from Fort Worth and while at Eastern Hills Junior College, he averaged 24 points last year. This year, Lee was named to the NJCAA Second-Team All America, posting 20.1 points a game, 6.2 rebounds per game, 2.2 assists per game and 1.7 steals per game. He had the chance to go play for the famous Bobby Knight at Texas Tech but choose to become a Cougar. We've seen a tremendous decline at Tech while Houston's program has picked up a lot since the arrival of Penders. The Cougars will definitely jock for position in next year's NCAA tournament.

"Robert is an aggressive player on both ends of the floor," Penders said in a press release. "He is an outstanding defender who can score and create his own shots. He reminds me a lot of Travis Mays, in that they both attack the basket and can score offensively off the dribble."

Lee stands at 6-2 and weighs 191 pounds, which could be to his advantage and he could see some early minutes from this transfer. The offensive system Penders runs may fit Lee really well and be to his liking. 

Toney comes all the way from Brooklyn attending Post Erasmus Hall High School, but is familiar with the bay-area. Toney transfers from San Jacinto College and rejoins with a former teammate, Robert McKiver, who signed in the fall. From all indications, Toney is a fine athlete and a pounder. 

"Tafari is exactly what we need," Penders said in a release. "He is classic power forward who will give a strong inside presence both offensively and defensively. He is the type of player who improved every week this year at San Jacinto under an outstanding coach in Scott Gernander. Scott got him really ready to play with the big boys at this level."

It will be a hard transaction for these two signees, but Penders seems confident in his decisions. 

The Cougars desperately need good shooters on their team next season. Only four out of 15 Cougars were able to crack to 45 percent mark in field goals and Sam Anderson was the only Cougar to shoot over 75 percent from the line. 

Let's just hope some of the Cougars will take up the challenge to beat out Memphis in conference next year. The University and the students are waiting for good things to happen next year, let's just hope they're ready to deliver.
 

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