(Courtesy: Mark Rein, WNCC)
Trent Harris will be following in his father’s footsteps when he becomes part of the Western Nebraska Community College men’s basketball team.
The Scottsbluff High School graduate, who was planning to play at Eastern Wyoming College until former Lancer head coach Casey Jones resigned this month, knew that WNCC would be the best fit for him. His father, Anthony, played for the Cougars from 1991-1993.
Harris is excited to play under WNCC head coach Russ Beck.
“I have been playing up here with Coach Beck all summer and I felt like it was a good relationship with him,” Harris said.
Beck said the addition of Harris will be a plus for his program. Harris will grey-shirt this coming season.
“I like how humble Trent is, telling everyone that he needs to work on everything,” Beck said. “That is great, but the kid dropped in 36 points in the Panhandle Prep All-Star Game and it is great for a young man to come in and say he needs to work on everything. That is the opportunity we will give him — the opportunity to work on his game.”
Beck said the grey-shirt year will help Harris develop his game even more for the collegiate level.
“The plan is to grey-shirt him and have him work on his game,” he said. “To a lot of people, that is a term they haven’t heard of. They hear of a red-shirt, but a grey-shirt is when a student takes 11 credits or less that way his academic and athletic clock doesn’t start until he goes full time. Then when he goes full-time, he will still have five years of eligibility left, including a red-shirt.”
Beck sees Harris as being someone that can play a major role for the Cougars in the near future, and quite possibly at a higher level if he so chooses one day.
“I think if he works hard in the classroom, the sky is the limit,” Beck said. “He already has a Division I game, and if he adds that five to 10 pounds of muscle and weight I think he can play anywhere. He has a knack for scoring and he is a long, rangy defender.”
Harris’ father said he always had a dream of his son playing for the school he once was part of.
“Deep down I always wanted him to play here because I played here and it made sense. This is my old school and I loved this school when I was here,” Anthony Harris said. “I made good relationships and I still have a lot of relationships that are here. For him, he fell in love with this school as soon as he made varsity and got to play in this gym. He has always called this his home gym because he thinks he shoots better here than any other place. I don’t know if that is true or not, but that is what he says.”
Trent Harris was named the Star-Herald’s All-Region Boys Basketball Player of the Year as a senior. He also was selected to the Omaha World-Herald’s Class B all-state first team after helping Scottsbluff to a district championship and berth in the state tournament.
He just finished playing in the Nebraska Coaches Association All-Star Basketball Game in Lincoln last week. He scored 13 points for his Blue all-star squad, which fell 95-88 against the Red.
“It was a fun weekend getting to know all those guys,” Harris said. “I knew some before I went up there.”