This past season, the Red Devils mens basketball team was led by a group of six sophomores that started the season so hot, the team nearly made the national rankings.
On Wednesday, the first of those six put pen to paper to continue his basketball career.
Sophomore swingman Jamaal Clifton signed his national letter of intent to play his final two years of college basketball at Tiffin University in Tiffin, Ohio.
The Conway, Ark., native felt like the coaches at Tiffin really rolled out the welcome wagon for him when he visited and that was a big factor in heading north to Ohio.
The coaches made it feel like home from the time that I touched down to the time that I left, Clifton said. I knew where I wanted to be.
Clifton averaged a little over 20 minutes per game in his two years at Allen including around 7.5 points, 4.3 rebounds and 1.2 assists.
Clifton said there are plenty of great memories from his time here at Allen. But what hell remember most is when things werent going as well, like when the Red Devils lost 13 out of 16 games in the middle of the year, many of which were rather close.
Im going to miss the wars we went through, Clifton said. We never gave up on each other and we always fought through adversity.
Head coach Andy Shaw said that it was Cliftons attitude more than just his impressive skill set that always made him stand out.
He was a kid that we could play at multiple positions and he could basically guard 1-4 or at times 1-5, Shaw said. Hes very versatile and thats something thats hard to find. But beyond basketball, Ive just enjoyed being around him over the past several years. Hes a tough kid. Hes been through some stuff in his past and Im glad to see him come here and have success and then get to move on to the division two level. I think its great.
Guys like Darius Love and Perry Carroll are still on the lookout for their next place to play. Shaw hopes that soon other D-2 schools like Tiffin will send offers their way.
