Panola College sophomore basketball players Kyndall Davis and John Wilson signed letters of intent and will continue their basketball careers at Division I schools next season.
Davis — a 6-foot-5 guard from Chicago — signed with Eastern Illinois University last week and John Wilson — a 5-foot-11 point guard from Brooklyn, New York — signed with Northwestern State University this week.
“First and foremost I’m excited that he’s going to Eastern Illinois because that’s where I played my last two years of college ball at,” Panola Coach Joe Kuligoski said. “I’m excited that he’s going to be a Panther.
“I’m very familiar with Charleston, Illinois and the league itself. He’s going to play in the Ohio Valley Conference, and his skill set at 6-foot-5 athletic, can guard multiple positions and offensively can play multiple positions. That’s kind of a scary guy to have in that league at your disposal.”
Davis averaged 9.1 points, 3.4 rebounds and 1.4 steals per game for a very balanced and potent Ponies team that won 28 games this past season.
With Davis being from Chicago, Eastern Illinois is only two hours and 15 minutes away from home for the sophomore.
“I think the fit for him is perfect,” Kuligoski said. “What he brought to the team this year, his energy on defense, his playmaking ability in the open court. It translates perfectly for Eastern Illinois and the Ohio Valley Conference.”
Wilson was the leader and point guard for the Ponies, and was just one of three players to play in all 33 games this past season. Wilson was second on the team in points per game, averaging 11.7, and led Panola in assists with 4.7 per game.
Kuligoski said that new Northwestern State Head Coach Rick Cabrera actually recruited Wilson to play at Tallahassee Community College — where Cabrera previously coached — last season, and Cabrera wasn’t going to let Wilson slip away twice.
“We were all kind of joking and laughing about that,” Kuligoski said. “They had a great conversation and he committed yesterday. Wherever John goes he just wins, he won a national championship at his prep school, with us he was our starting point guard all year and we won 28 games.
“Northwestern State knows what they are doing — they are getting a winner out of him. They know they’ll win a lot of games with him at the point guard position.”
Davis and Wilson join now former teammate Chrishawn Christmas to have signed to play at a D-I school next season.
Christmas committed to Stephen F. Austin State University in the early part of last season.