BY AUSTIN RUSH | Statesman Correspondent With five players from the state of Arizona on their roster, the Bulldog men’s basketball team has a case of desert fever.
Four seniors, Pierre Newton, Kristofer Jackson, Junior Coleman, Brendon Pineda and junior Charles Benson make up the players that hail from the Grand Canyon state.
Although none of them played together in high school or community college with one another, they are unified by a similar style.
“I think we made our own little style. Coming up here we brought our style and blended it with Coach’s style and we were able to adapt. We have been pretty much just playing our style from back home,” Coleman said.
Pierre Newton and Brendon Pineda were key pieces of the team last season. Newton started the final 25 games while Pineda started in all 30 games of his debut season with the Bulldogs. Newton and Pineda both averaged double digits in points last season: 13.4 and 11 points per game respectively.
Jackson and Coleman both sat out last season after receiving redshirts. In Jackson’s case the redshirt was medical.
Head coach Matt Bowen previously found success in bringing Arizona Community college students to his team when he coached at Bemidji State. He has continued to draw players from the desert since taking over the Bulldog basketball program.
“You look at these five guys, they’ve provided some athleticism for us, they’re older and they’ve all either redshirted or transferred,” Bowen said. “They have some really good experience and that’s what we needed as we begin to retool this program and get it where we want it to go.”
Despite the fact that none of the Arizona natives knew each other personally before coming to UMD, they have successfully developed strong chemistry on and off the court.
“I think we have great chemistry. One of the big things was that we came together and we stayed up here over the summer, working out together and living together and I think that was a good push to help us get on the track that we’re on right now,” Coleman said.
These guys haven’t minded trading in their 85 degrees and sunny lifestyles to come play for the Bulldogs.
“It was a great opportunity because the team was rebuilding when we all came here so we kind of got a chance to build our own team and make our own family here. It was a great opportunity for all of us guys to come here from Arizona and make it happen” Pineda said.
That chemistry they have built showed this weekend as the Bulldogs had an undefeated home stand.
Friday night the Bulldogs continued to find ways to win, handing Crookston a 78-71 loss and then rolled to a 74-67 victory over Bemidji St. Saturday night.
Newton recorded a double-double Friday night with 16 points and 10 rebounds while Pineda and Coleman were both in double digits with 11 and 12 points respectively. Saturday night was the same story as Newton, Pineda and Coleman all lit up the stat sheet as they helped the Bulldogs defeat Bowen’s former team with the tools he previously built that program with.
