BPCC men's basketball players sign with four-year schools

BPCC men's basketball players sign with four-year schools

BOSSIER CITY, La. - Bossier Parish Community College men's basketball coach Chris Lovell announced the signing of seven players from the 2018-2019 team to four-year schools for the 2019-2020 basketball season.

"I'm so happy and proud of these young men," said Lovell, who begins his fourth season at Bossier Parish. "They all have really elevated our program and gave themselves an opportunity to continue their academic and athletic careers. This is an impressive list of schools who are getting hard working and high character young men. I'm excited to watch them all continue to compete at the next level."

Below are capsules on the former Cavaliers and where they've signed: 

Eric Parrish - 6'7" guard signed with the University of Nevada, a Top 25 program out of the Mountain West Conference. Nevada has won the MWC each of the last two seasons, and went to the NCAA Tournament. Parrish came to BPCC from Houston's Cypress Springs High School and the University of Akron. While here, Parrish stuffed the stats sheet, leading the team in points (18.4), rebounds (8.7), assists (6.4) and blocks (1.0). Parrish also racked up a number of awards, including First-Team All-Region XIV, LABC Junior College Player-of-the-Year, LSWA Player-of-the-Month for March, and was twice named LSWA player of the week. He was also named NJCAA Player-of-the-Week for the week of November 26, 2018, which marked the first time in school history that a Cavalier had been honored.

Jason Holliday - 6'5" wingman signed with Murray State University. The Racers produced the second overall pick in the recent NBA Draft. Murray State plays in the Ohio Valley Conference, and advanced to the round of 32 in the NCAA tournament last season. Holliday is from Baton Rouge, La., but was a multi-sport athlete at Brusly High School. In 2018-19, Holliday averaged  32 minutes, 16.8 points, 7.6 rebounds and 2.2 steals per game. He was a All-Region XIV Honorable Mention. Holliday was named the LSWA Player-of-the-Week for the week of February 25, 2019. He finished his career at Bossier Parish ranked seventh in points, eighth in rebounds, third in free throw attempts, second in free throws made and fifth in steals.

Erie Olonade - 6'1" guard signed with the University of Louisiana - Monroe. Last season, ULM participated in the CollegeInsider.com Postseason Tournament. Olonade came to BPCC from Houston's Alief Taylor High School and Miles Community College. Last season, Olonade averaged 31.6 minutes, 13.7 points and 3.0 assists per game, while shooting a team high 39.2% from beyond the three-point line. He was an All-Region XIV Honorable Mention.                   

Mikail Simmons - 6'9" forward signed with Bryant University of the Northeast Conference. Simmons, who is from Dallas, came to BPCC from Plano East High School and Loyola Marymount University. In 2018-19, he averaged 24 minutes, 8.6 points, 6.1 rebounds and 1.0 blocks per game. He finished with the third most blocks in school history.

Paris Harris - 6'7" forward signed with Prairie View A&M University of the Southwestern Athletic Conference. Last season, the Panthers won the SWAC and participated in the NCAA tournament. Harris, who is from Hot Springs, Arkansas, came to BPCC from Hot Springs High School and Itawamba Community College. In 2018-19, he averaged 21 minutes, 11.5 points and 4.7 rebounds per game. Harris put up those numbers despite being the proverbial "sixth man" coming off the bench for the majority of the season.

Lane Hartley - 6'2" guard will be joining the team at Louisiana Tech University. There he will reunite with former Cavalier, Mubarak Muhammed, who signed with the Bulldogs in 2018. Hartley is from Chatham, La., where he starred at Weston High School. He came to BPCC from Kansas City Kansas Community College.

David Williams - 6'9 forward signed with Wiley College. Williams is from New Orleans, and came to BPCC from De La Salle High School. He was one of only two returning sophomores from the 2017-18 team. 

---30---