Men's Basketball
The return of Gillette College basketball brought a big home crowd and a big win as the Pronghorns move to 5-1 on the season with a 20-point win over Lake Region State College.
Reaching the Division I level of college basketball was never the end goal for Tarig Eisa. It was just a stepping stone. The ultimate goal for the Gillette College forward is to become a professional basketball player, a journey that has already taken him all over North America.
Mason Archambault is returning to South Dakota to join the Division I basketball ranks. The Gillette College sophomore, who played prep hoops in Rapid City, South Dakota, announced Tuesday that he has committed to the University of South Dakota. Archambault called it a dream come true and said USD was the school he wanted to play for “since I came to Gillette.”
Gillette College sophomore Bradley Akhile will be playing Division I basketball next year at the University of the Incarnate Word. The 6-foot-7 forward from Houston will return to his home state, as his commitment takes him to San Antonio, Texas.
One of the biggest keys to successful junior college basketball is buy-in, and the Gillette College men used that buy-in to return to Region IX and national prominence. The 2018-19 season was an anomaly during coach Shawn Neary’s tenure, as the team went 15-16 and lost out in the first round of the region tournament. The Pronghorns had averaged 30 wins the previous five seasons, including a NJCAA Final Four appearance. Neary reloaded last offseason while returning two experienced sophomores and advanced to the Region IX semifinals to finish the season 26-6.
The Gillette College men’s basketball team came out of the gates firing in the Region IX tournament semifinals Friday night. The Pronghorns jumped out to a 13-4 lead, but then No. 15-ranked Western Wyoming Community College took over. WWCC had a 47-34 lead at halftime, and although the Pronghorns charged back to within two points in the second half, the Mustangs pulled away again for an 87-74 win in Sterling, Colorado, at the Region IX tournament.
Gillette College’s 6-foot-4 forward Isaac Mushila wasn’t the biggest guy on the court Thursday. But he was by far the most effective in the paint in leading the Pronghorns to a quarterfinal win in the Region IX Men’s Basketball Tournament.
Gillette College Men Host First Round