Hometown Report: Sheldon’s Nelson will leave UTEP

Indiana Lalor

Nov-24-2011

Hometown Report: Sheldon’s Nelson will leave UTEP

Former Sheldon High School basketball star Darius Nelson, one of the area’s most prolific scorers, has decided to transfer from UTEP, where he was a freshman.

The 6-foot-6 Nelson, The Bee’s 2010-11 Player of the Year, arrived at the El Paso campus this fall with much fanfare and high expectations. But after scoring 19 points, grabbing six rebounds and finishing with four assists in a team scrimmage, Nelson decided coach Tim Floyd‘s program wasn’t a fit.

Nelson is no longer on the team and will officially transfer following this semester, one in which he has compiled a 3.4 grade-point average.

If he transfers to play at another four-year school, he will have to sit out a year, per NCAA rules.

“People are hammering my son, and they need to know that he isn’t leaving due to disciplinary issues or anything like that,” Ron Nelson said Friday. “Darius is extremely disappointed, but it just wasn’t what he wanted or was promised there, and in a matter of weeks, he’ll know exactly where he’s going to wind up.”

As a senior at Sheldon, Nelson averaged team highs of 24 points and 11 rebounds per game.

Chasing success

Chase Tapley and Xavier Thames met up with an old friend this week when San Diego State downed then-No. 23-ranked Arizona 61-57.

Tapley, a guard from Sacramento High, scored 17 points in Tucson to end Arizona’s 22-game home winning streak and beat former Dragons teammate Josiah Turner in their first head-to-head meeting.

Turner, a guard, scored 10 for the Wildcats.

Thames (Pleasant Grove), a starting guard with Tapley, beat USC 56-54 on Nov. 17 with a last-second layup.

Seawell in the running

One of the feel-good stories this fall was Garrett Seawell, a sophomore cross country runner at American River College.

The former Woodcreek standout overcame injuries so debilitating early in his career he wondered if his running days were over. He was second in a half-dozen big races this fall before winning at the state Community College Cross Country Championships last Saturday in Fresno, where ARC’s men won a team title.

Appreciating Summerhays

Great move by Del Campo High to honor Gary Summerhays for his 40 years of teaching and coaching during an alumni basketball game Wednesday.

Summerhays guided teams to championships in girls and boys soccer, volleyball, basketball and golf.

Ivy League impact

Harvard sophomore defensive back Jaron Wilson of Del Campo had a fumble recovery and interception in a 45-7 victory over rival Yale in “The Game.”

Wilson is studying evolutionary human biology with goals of being an orthopedic surgeon.

On Yale’s side of the field, Jordan Haynes of Jesuit earned first-team All-Ivy League football honors for the second consecutive season. Haynes led the Bulldogs with 95 tackles.

Shaq to Arizona State?

Shaq Thompson, Grant’s versatile standout, returned from a football recruiting trip to Arizona State and said he could see himself playing safety for coach Dennis Erickson.

Then again, this is recruiting.

Thompson was wowed by his trip to Washington and Oregon, but not so much at Notre Dame, which he said wasn’t an ideal fit.

Darvin for the defense

City College of San Francisco defensive back Darvin McCauley, a former Grant star, has earned All-NorCal Conference honors.

McCauley and his nationally No. 3-ranked team will play Fresno City today to decide which team plays in the state title bowl game.

CCSF has won 11 NorCal titles and six state and mythical national championships. The best community college football in the country is played in California.