Alliman key to Cedarville’s National Championship bid
RICARDO Alliman’s Cedarville University, the American Mideast Conference (AMC) champions in the NAIA Division II Basketball, have been seeded at number 13 in the 19th Annual National Basketball Championships.
Cedarville, known as the Yellow Jackets, will open against Warner Pacific of Oregon next week Thursday at the College of the Ozarks in Point Lookout, Missouri.
The Yellow Jackets, 25-8 overall, will make their fourth consecutive appearance in the NAIA (National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics) Division II Championships and seventh trip in the last eight years.
In the only previous meeting with Warner Pacific, the Ohio-based Cedarville won 86-75 three years ago. Warner Pacific are 22-9 for the season.
Meanwhile, Alliman, a 6ft 7in Jamaican and Calabar High School past student, has earned a spot on the All-AMC first-team for the 2009-2010 season.
He averaged 17.6 points and 10.2 rebounds per game during the regular season of the number 14-ranked Cedarville.
Meanwhile, the Yellow Jackets coach Patrick Estepp, in an interview, said Alliman “will be one of the main focal points for our team as he has been all year”.
“As a person Ricardo has been a joy to coach. He works hard every day, both on the court and in the classroom. He represents Cedarville and Christ well,” added the coach of the Yellow Jackets, whose university has as its motto “Pro Corona et Foedere Christi: For the Crown and Covenant of Christ”.
Asked as to whether Alliman would have a shot to play in the NBA, coach Estepp said: “Ricky will definitely have a chance to play professionally, most likely overseas. The NBA would be a long shot, but he will be successful at whatever he does due to work ethic and character.”
Alliman and Christopher Walker, a past student of Tivoli Gardens High, are two Jamaicans in the Yellow Jackets line-up, and the coach Estepp said he would be looking at recruiting other Jamaicans into the Ohio-based team.
“We most definitely will be considering other future Jamaican players. We are currently looking into some players for the next season.
“All the guys we have had have done a tremendous job in their academics, their basketball careers and have grown spiritually as well.
“We have had Mugabe Thomas, Daniel Rose, Christopher Walker, and Ricardo Alliman since 2002. So we will probably be recruiting in Jamaica again this summer. We have absolutely loved those guys!,” he pointed out.
