6-8 Cothron says he will play at State

By: By Bill Cole | JOURNAL REPORTER
Published: October 14, 2009

Luke Cothron has lived in North Carolina for less than two years, but that was more than enough time for him to decide he wants to play basketball at N.C. State.

Cothron, a 6-8, 210-pound forward at Flora Macdonald Academy in Red Springs, committed last week to become the third player in State's 2010 recruiting class.

"He was not so much an N.C. State fan as a Sidney Lowe fan," Coach Derrick Bond of Flora Macdonald said. "His mom and him moved here from Huntsville, Ala., so he didn't know much about the ACC other than what he heard. But the more he got to know Coach Lowe and the other coaches, the more he got to be involved with the tradition and the Wolfpack pride."

Cothron had 34 scholarship offers, Bond said, and Georgia Tech, Florida State, Tennessee, Connecticut, Alabama and Mississippi State were among those in the group.

"The more he was involved with N.C. State, the more he got excited," Bond said. "It was a good overwhelming feeling. You can get overwhelmed in a bad way, but he became overwhelmed in a good way."

Cothron averaged 27 points, 17 rebounds and six blocked shots last season in helping Flora Macdonald, an NCISAA team, to a 23-9 record.

Bond said that Cothron had 43 points, 28 rebounds, 11 assists and nine blocked shots against Quality Education Academy of Winston-Salem in a 91-70 victory.

"He did that to numerous teams," Bond said. "The bigger the game, the bigger the performance for him.

"He's a man amongst boys. He's a combination, in terms of his productivity, of Antawn Jamison and Tyler Hansbrough. Hansbrough in terms of his work ethic, Jamison in terms of his skill level."

bcole@wsjournal.com.