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Drexel honors five seniors before loss to James Madison

02/24/2017, 10:45am EST
By Graham Foley

Rodney Williams (above) was one of five seniors honored by Drexel on Thursday night. (Photo: Mark Jordan/CoBL)

Graham Foley (@graham_foley3)
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The five seniors in Drexel’s starting lineup Thursday night all had vastly different paths to get to the Daskalakis Athletic Center court.

John Moran, a graduate student who joined the team this season after graduating from the University of Richmond. Major Canady, who returned to the court this season after two years of injuries. Elgin Ford Jr., a walk-on who only played one year of high school basketball and who joined the team for the first time as a senior.

And, of course, Rodney Williams and Mohamed Bah, who played for the Dragons all four years of their collegiate careers.

Each of them were honored on Thursday night as Drexel celebrated its Senior Night.

“This a day to talk about those seniors and those guys that were on the floor,” head coach Zach Spiker said. “Major came in with those guys, Elgin Ford, who was a late edition to our program, and John Moran who was an even later edition to our program, but it doesn’t matter when you jump on board. Once a Dragon, always a Dragon.”

Unfortunately, these five seniors did not get the send off they wanted, as the Dragons lost to James Madison, 70-64. It was a game that capped off what has been a trying final season for the five seniors who have each touched the program in very different ways.

The most impactful of these five has undoubtedly been Williams.

A Richmond, Va., native, the 6-foot-7 forward began his career by playing in all 30 of Drexel’s games his freshman year. He averaged 5.4 ppg 5.0 rpg and qualified for the Colonial Athletic Association’s All-Rookie Team.

This season, he leads the team scoring (16.2 ppg) and rebounding (6.7 ppg). He currently ranks 25th in Drexel’s all-time scoring list (1,143 points) and is seventh in Drexel’s career blocks list with 125.

“I just love being here,” Williams said. “I love being a Dragon, and through my years here I’ve just been really grateful to have the opportunity...because not everyone gets a chance to do this so these four years have been great and I’m really going to miss it here but I guess you’ve got to move”

Williams said he felt the impact of the ending of his career when he stepped on the court for the pregame senior-night festivities.

“Coming out, you're with our parents and everyone’s clapping and everything, the emotions start to set in,” Williams said. “And I just thought to myself ‘wow, four years, blessed to play on this court and it’s about to be all over so just embrace it, enjoy, one more time and try to get the win with your teammates.’”

Canady, officially listed as a redshirt-junior, did not play for the last two seasons as he battled with injuries. This season, he made his debut on Dec. 18 against Kean where he had four assists and made a free throw in 12 minutes on the court. On Feb. 16 at Delaware, Canaday knocked down two 3-point shots and collected scored seven points.

The Kiski School product is eligible to continue playing for Drexel next year despite graduating with his fellow seniors this spring. Spiker said he and Canady are going going to “re-evaluate” his basketball future after the season.

“When you look at Major, the sacrifices he’s made and the struggles he’s gone through, you can’t help but respect and admire him,” Spiker said. “Those are decisions that Major and I have spoken about during the season and we just said ‘hey, let’s just get through this year and we can talk about it after the fact.’ But I wanted him to have this experience no matter what.”

Bah has played for Drexel in all four years of his collegiate career. This season, he is averaging 3.9 ppg and 3.3 rpg in just 11 minutes of play. He exploded for career highs of 18 pts and 12 rebounds against Elon on Feb. 18.

Moran is a newer addition to the Dragon’s team. The Malvern Prep/Hill School product played basketball at Richmond and joined the Drexel team this season as a graduate student. He has appeared in 28 of the team’s 29 games averaging 2.9 ppg. He dropped 15 pts on the road against Elon on Jan. 19 and scored 12 pts at home against UNCW on Jan. 21.

Ford joined the team as a senior without playing basketball at all in his three previous years at Drexel and only playing one year of high school basketball. In his first game of the year against Kean on Dec. 18, Ford scored three points and collected two rebounds in just three minutes of play.

This class of seniors has gone through some tough trials. Under a new head coach, the Dragons (9-21, 3-14) are coming off a season in which the team won just six games all year and only three in conference. This year, with all its losses, was the first step in a rebuilding process for the team.

“This senior class and our entire program is going through a learning experience,” Spiker said. “It’s not fun, it’s not fun for the coaches, it’s not fun for the players, it’s not fun for the DAC Pack, it’s not fun for the administration, but there are benefits and there will be rewards.

“Whether they’re short-term next week in Charleston or sometime next year. We’ll be a better basketball program and our players will be better and I’ll be a better coach having gone through this. That’s the only way we’re going to look at it. We’re not going to feel sorry for ourselves.”

With one game left in what has been a difficult regular season, the Dragons will be looking to close out the schedule with a victory against Charleston.

After that, the seniors are not ready to stop playing just yet. With the Colonial Athletic Association Tournament beginning on Mar. 3, the group’s focus will shift to trying to play as much basketball with each other as they can.

“We have a big tournament coming up where anything can happen in the CAA,” Williams said. “So that’s what we’re focused on right now, keeping guys healthy and making a run.”


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