I’d like to thank LeShawn Hammett who is the head coach for PSU Wilkes Barre Mountain Lions in Lehman, Pennsylvania in the PSUAC in the USCAA for sharing his thoughts on 2021-22 campaign with The Cannon Network. He shared, “The Penn State Wilkes-Barre Men’s Basketball team  We enter the year with two goals, to win a conference championship and get back to the USCAA National Tournament to Win Another National Championship. The program returns a core of its players who are now looking to step up and play big roles due to the graduation of 7 players two years ago from the 2019 National Championship team.  I’ve brought in a talented 2020 recruiting class from across the country a year ago and now have added on with some more talent with his 2021 class. Our roster feature student-athletes from Pennsylvania, Chicago, Maryland, Connecticut, Mississippi, Washington DC, Virginia and Coach Hammett’s Backyard of New York.  

The expectations is for Senior Guard Kevin Major, Kaii Gilliam & Clifton Ziggy Tracey to play huge roles. Kevin Major, Who emerged as a huge player in 2020 for the team is now set take over and lead the way. Kevin Major gained a ton of experience playing on the 2020 National Tournament team. So I expect Kevin Major to be a big part of our success this year. Clifton Tracey played really well along side Kevin Major Before Covid and we have high expectations for him to be a big time guard in his senior year. I really like this group. We have a mixture of experienced players and a few young guys. We expect big things from our recruiting class. Kaii Gilliam is a big time guard for us and has some experience as a transfer and Jedidiah Ashton has shown early this preseason hes going to be a big time player for us. Kaii Gilliam is a 6’0 Senior Guard: Kaii comes to Penn State Wilkes-Barre from NAIA Wilberforce University. Where he averaged 10 points, 3 rebounds and 4 assists per game. Kaii was a starting guard at Wilberforce and also comes in with Juco experience on his resume as well.   Jedidiah Ashton, Is a 6’6 Sophomore Stretch Forward: Averaged 11 points and 8 rebounds at Monore College in New York. 

What Coach Says: Jed is a big time player for us. Hes one of those guys who knows how to dominate the game without having plays ran for him. He rebounds well, is athletic and can score in bunches What I love the most is our depth. Our Guard play is really solid and can carry us with their experience. With Clifton Tracey back who is a 6’7 scorer and big time shot maker is huge. Kaii Gilliam can score and together Kaii Gilliam and Kevin Major are a dangerous combination. Having John McNeal, a, 6’6 Juco transfer who averaged 15  points and 7 rebounds in Juco. Three Big Time Players Who Add to serious depth to this team is Marc Emile, a very good 3 point shooter, Shaquille Ricks,  A 6’5 Juco Two-way player who can knock down the 3 ball and defend extremely well and last but not least Senior Marin Bandalo who is a 6’8 big who stretches the floor well because of his ability to make 3s. 2 Freshman to watch are 6’7 Frantz Jean Pierre & 6’6 Marco Botta. Both are high flying multi-position forwards who have a ton of potential.  Overall we play a big time schedule playing 2 D1s  (MEAC Champion Norfolk state & Morgan State) We Will Also Play D2 Cheney University. On our Non-Conference Schedule we also have 3 potentially ranked USCAA games as we’re expected to be ranked in the top 10 as well. I’m very excited about this season and looking forward to our run at another national championship.”