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FHSU's Jones adjusts to life in Hays
12/11/2009
By CONOR NICHOLL
cnicholl@dailynews.net
In Mark Johnson's nine seasons as Fort Hays State University men's basketball coach, the Tigers have had players from New York. However, FHSU has never had a player from a junior college inside New York City. This season, junior guard Dominique Jones, a Harlem native, joined Fort Hays.
"This is the first time that he has ever left New York City," Johnson said. "He is a great kid. He is a real neat kid. To me, he is one of a few guys that can come out there and make this adjustment right away. He is just a well-rounded guy, comes from a good family and he seems to really enjoy the Hays situation."
Jones, who transferred from New York City junior college powerhouse Fashion Institute of Technology, has liked living in Hays. An electrifying and speedy player, Jones has seen his minutes increase as the season moves on. On Wednesday, he delivered a typical line with 11 points, three assists and a steal in a 78-66 victory against Northwest Missouri State University at Gross Memorial Coliseum.
"Very family oriented," Jones said of Hays. "Coming out of New York City, everybody is not so nice. Came out here, everybody showed me a lot of love. Not that they didn't show a lot back in New York City, but it's real different. Everybody wants to know you in a positive way."
Jones' unique game includes one-handed free throws, a technique he learned from the coach at Wadleigh High School. In addition, he has delivered several acrobatic plays, including a steal Wednesday night.
He deflected the ball downcourt, chased after the ball, and, while trying to stay inbounds, acrobatically tight-roped down the left sideline. Jones eventually went out-of-bounds, but the play brought applause from the crowd. Against Friends University, Jones deflected an opponent's pass to Tiger junior forward Ken Bowman. Bowman grabbed the ball. Jones raced down court, Bowman passed to him and Jones sank a layup. His dribble penetration and passing has yielded multiple scores, too.
"He is a fun player to watch," junior guard Corbin Kuntzsch said. "He is quick with the ball and he makes a lot of things happen. He sometimes gets into a little bit too much of a hurry, but for the most part, he made a lot of good plays in the game (Wednesday) and got a lot of guys a lot of easy baskets."
The 5-foot-9, 175-pound Jones ranks second on the Tigers in points (11.6 a game) and stands in the top three in assists (25), steals (13) and assist to turnover ratio (25/17). Bowman paces FHSU at 12.8 points per contest. Fort Hays, ranked No. 22 in NCAA Division II, is 7-1, 2-0 in conference play. They will host Missouri Western State University (6-1, 2-0 MIAA) on Saturday. Marcus Rhodes leads the Griffons in scoring at 18.6 per contest. Tipoff is 2 p.m. for the women, 4 p.m. for the men.
"They are very athletic," Johnson said. "They are short and athletic, we are going to be taller and slower. Which style of play wins out -- most of the time I've said you have to adjust to the little guys, so it's going to be interesting to see if we can get them to adjust to us. Be a really big test. We have to walk away with that win.
"This will be our sixth game in 13 days, our fourth game in 8 days," he added. "It's not the physical part of it, it's the mental part of it. I didn't feel like myself. I am feeling like I am dragging a little bit mentally and I don't do near anything compared to what our guys have to do. Hopefully they can be tough enough and mature enough."
Jones, one of four Fort Hays players that didn't come from Kansas, Nebraska or Missouri, played against strong talent in New York City. In high school, he faced Sebastian Telfair, a New York City legend and a current NBA player.
"Very talented player," Jones said. "One of the best I have ever seen. Coming out of New York City, there are a lot of great guards, so it's always good to look at your competition because you can be caught off guard at any given moment. So as long as you prepare well, then you are going to be all right."
Jones has looked up to many great New York City players, including Rafer Alston, a current pro player formerly known as Skip to My Lou. Alston was known for his high-flying moves, dribbles and dunks as part of the And 1 basketball tours. In addition, Jones likes Jamie Harris of NCAA Division I Drexel University and Kimba Walker, a Bronx native currently playing for Connecticut.
"It's a lot of competition back in New York, so I work out with a lot of them to become a better player," Jones said.
In high school, Jones developed his signature 1-handed free throws. This year, he has started 9-of-11 on free throws.
"That was from his high school days," Johnson said. "He played for a guy that did form shooting and just started doing that and noticing that he was shooting at a higher rate doing the one-handed. I don't like it, but he shot (over 80) percent from the foul line in junior college, so it was kind of hard to make him change. If he starts missing, he will shoot them two-handed."
Jones, who studies advertising, marketing and communications, went to FIT, a junior college known for academics, before he transferred to Fort Hays.
"Academics is always first and that's why I am at this institution," he said. "A lot of great things about it and of course, the basketball program is always good," he said.
Jones focused on offense more when he first joined the Tigers, but Johnson talked to him several times. If Jones wanted to play more minutes, he would have to play stronger defense. Jones has improved and seen his minutes increase.
"If I got to be out there making plays, it's going to be on the defensive end. That's something that we go over everyday since we got here. Defense, defense, defense," Jones said.
After he played 23 and 22 minutes in non-conference games against Friends and Central Christian College, Jones has played 23 or more minutes in all but one game since. His season high is 30 minutes in a road win versus University of Nebraska-Kearney.
"He has really improved a lot," Jones said. "He is working at it. The thing that sometimes he wants to revert back to his old habits, but when he is focused on the defensive end, he is a good player."
Women look for 8-1
The Tiger women (7-1 overall, 1-1 MIAA) will face Missouri Western on Saturday after they defeated Northwest Missouri State University on Wednesday. Senior guard Naomi Bancroft leads FHSU with 17.1 points per contest. Missouri Western (1-5 overall, 0-2 MIAA), ranked last in the conference in scoring at 55.7 points a contest, has been outscored by an average of 13 points per game. Jessica Koch leads the Griffons at 12.2 points a game.
| Scoreboard | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Sport | Date | Opponent | Score |
| TS | 04/06 | Emporia State | L 8-1 |
| SB | 03/30 | Panhandle State | W 10-2 (5 inn.) |
| SB | 03/30 | Panhandle State | W 13-3 (5 inn.) |
| BB | 03/30 | Washburn | W 3-1 |
| BB | 03/30 | Washburn | W 3-1 |
| TS | 03/23 | Kansas Wesleyan | L 6-3 |
| BB | 03/23 | Metro State | W 20-8 |
| BB | 03/23 | Metro State | W 6-5 |
| SB | 03/19 | Nebraska-Omaha | L 4-2 |
| SB | 03/19 | Truman State | W 4-1 |
| SB | 03/18 | Mo. Western | L 6-2 |
| BB | 03/17 | Missouri S&T | W 2-1 (10) |
| SB | 03/17 | Bethany | W 6-1 |
| SB | 03/17 | Bethany | W 8-1 |
| BB | 03/16 | Misosuri S&T | L 13-4 |
| MB | 03/14 | Central Missouri | L 80-73 |
| BB | 3/13 | NW Missouri | W 13-10 |
| BB | 03/13 | NW Missouri | W 4-3 |
| MB | 03/13 | Central Oklahoma | W 80-64 |
| SB | 03/08 | Fort Lewis | W 5-4 |