ASHLAND – His coach refers to him as a “quiet assassin.” This season, Adrian Cook has been killing opponents at both ends of the court, leading the Ashland University Eagles in scoring and steals.
“He is ‘old-school’ in the sense that he lets his ‘game’ do the talking. When he shows you that he can really play, he has that wonderful smile that says, ‘See, I told you I can do it.’ He has proven to everyone that he plays against that he is a weapon,” Ashland University men’s basketball coach John Ellenwood said of Cook.
“He leads by example and always has his emotions in check. He always seems to make a big play at the exact time we need it. He has great hands to go with his quickness and an unorthodox way of scoring that opponents can not replicate in practice.”
The senior from Westerville has been one of the key players for AU during a four-game winning streak that leaves them sitting at 11-6 overall and tied for second at 6-5 in the Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference South Division.
“It was a sense of desperation,” Cook said of the team’s recent turnaround. “We knew after losing four in a row we had to pick it up. Our defense has been better and our offense has been more fluid. It’s just the little things, honestly.”
Tonight, AU travels to Walsh (13-5, 6-5) before taking on a tough Findlay team (14-4, 8-3) Saturday at Kates Gymnasium.
“I think we put ourselves in a good position to get back into the conference race at the top. Our goal is to make the conference tournament and then hopefully farther than that and I think we’ve put ourselves in a pretty good position to do that,” Cook said.
One not-so-little thing that did not put the Eagles in a good position heading into the 2016-17 season was the loss of senior Wendell Davis, last year’s leading scorer and rebounder. Davis, who earned first-team NABC All-District, first-team D2CCA All-Region and first-team All-Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference honors as a junior, suffered a knee injury during the off-season that forced him to sit out this whole season and redshirt.
“We tried not to change our expectations. That’s hard to say because it’s Wendell. But we still had high expectations. We’re still talented. Me personally, I knew I had to step up and be more of a leader and be more aggressive,” Cook said.
This season, Cook is leading the Eagles with 12.9 points per game and 1.5 steals. He also is dishing out 2.9 assists and grabbing 3.5 rebounds. He is knocking down 53.0 percent of his shots and is hitting 40.9 percent from behind the 3-point line. With nine regular season games left, Cook is less than 120 points away from topping the 1,000 point mark for his career at AU.
“It was a mindset really. Just trying to be more aggressive and be more of a leader on the team. I know for us to be as good as we can be, I have to play really well and just do all that I know I can do. And I think I’ve done that for the most part,” Cook said.
Last year, Cook stepped into the starting lineup after contributing his first two season off the bench. He responded by averaging 12.5 points, 4.0 rebounds and 2.7 steals on a team that made the playoffs for the first time in 25 years.
Before bringing his basketball talents to Ashland, Cook was a three-year letter winner at Westerville North High. He earned first-team all-OCC honors and was named the team’s Most Valuable Player in his junior and senior seasons. He averaged 12.0 points, 4.0 rebounds and 5.0 assists during his senior year.
Growing up in Westerville, Cook had the opportunity to play with Davis, a Reynoldsburg native, and fellow AU senior Boo Osborne in AAU and on other travelling teams from the Columbus area.
After his senior year, Cook felt like he wasn’t getting the attention he should from colleges but his relationship with Davis helped him land in Ashland.
“I had a lot of Division III schools and Division II schools but they were further away. I saw Wendell was coming here and Ashland was always talking to me so he really pushed for the coaches to talk to me. They told me I could come here and earn my way to a scholarship, which I did,” Cook said.
Davis recently was cleared to practice with the team and is working on the scout squad to help Cook, Osborne and the rest of the starters prepare for their next opponent.
“It’s a little different because he’s playing against us. But it’s fun because we’re all competitive. It’s good that he’s back,” Cook said.
Last week, one of Cook’s former Eagle teammates Michael Hundley announced that he had signed to play professionally in Australia – a path Cook said he is contemplating himself.
“I’ve definitely thought about it. It’s intriguing. I think I’m talented enough to do it. You just have to put yourself out there and talk to people and really just keep working hard at it. After the season I’m going to sit down and think about that.”
If Cook decides to forego any future basketball playing, he will likely have little troubl transitioning into the business world. The finance major carries a 3.5 GPA and has been named to the GLIAC All-Academic Team (cumulative grade-point average of 3.00-3.49) after his sophomore and junior seasons and he also made the NABC Honors Court after his junior year.
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