Vols Repeat as Conference Champs

CARTERVILLE — Kyle Smithpeters has done it again.

He has now led the John A. Logan College Volunteers to back-to-back conference championships with a 15-3 record this season and four titles during his six seasons (2012-21018) as head basketball coach.

The Vols are seeded second in the Region 24 tournament and play Wednesday at 6 p.m. at Rend Lake College.

Smithpeters holds a record of 138 wins and only 50 losses for a 73 percent winning percentage during his head coaching career at Logan.

Smithpeters is averaging 23 wins per season, including 25 wins this season, going 25-5 to win the Great Rivers Athletic Conference (GRAC) title once again. Two of this season's losses were in overtime.

Smithpeters is rated 11th in the nation among JUCO coaches by coachstat.net.

The Vols this season have averaged more than 95 points per game with six players averaging in double figures. David Sloan shattered the College's single-season assists record and also leads the nation in that category. Sloan, the team's point guard, has also averaged 12 points per game.

Jaiveon Eaves has led the Volunteers in scoring with 16 points per game. Others averaging in double figures include Derek Hawthorne, Jr., 13; Vonnie Patterson, 12; Ronnie Carson, 11; and Melo Burrell, 10.

One factor that has made the Volunteers difficult to defend this season is the entire team's ability to score. Smithpeters has said that any player has the ability to come up big on any given night.

"Who's going to step up?" Smithpeters asked. "Any one of them is capable. You just don't know. These guys can surprise you."

In addition to excellence on the court, Logan players have demonstrated excellence in the classroom.

Logan's Phi Theta Kappa chapter recently added Aaron Twist and Will Keller.

The teammates have also raised the academic bar for other players on the team, Smithpeters said.

"Their execution in the classroom has set a higher stand for the rest of team," Smithpeters said. "Our guys are competitive and you can see our guys becoming more ingrained in the classroom because of the standard Aaron and Will have set."

To be included in the Phi Theta Kappa grade point averages must be high. Twist carries a 3.7 grade point average while Keller has a perfect 4.0.