this weekend.
Article from Feb 29, 2012
BY MATT HICKMAN
Herald/Review
DOUGLAS — In his decade-and-a-half as head coach at Cochise College, Jerry Carrillo has had neither much experience, nor much success with overseas prospects.
But Nathan Sobey came with a special reference.
Two years ago, Sobey sat the bench for the Warrnombool Seahawks, a semipro team in Australia, whose player/coach, Tim Gainey starred at Cochise from 2001-2003 before taking his game to Southern Utah University and ultimately, Down Under where he became the Seahawks’ leading scorer.
“Tim was one of the best players we’ve ever had; he turned himself into a good player,” Carrillo said. “He highly recommended Nathan, and more importantly, Tim knew the kind of guys we were looking for.”
Then a 20-year-old, Sobey was eager to take his coach’s advice.
“He’s my coach back home now and he’s one of my best friends as well,” Sobey said of Gainey. “Last year, he asked me if I wanted to go play college basketball. Next thing you know, he sent Carrillo a tape of me on Youtube, and I was out here in August.”
Upon Sobey’s arrival, Carrillo thought he might be getting a spot-up shooter with some ball-handling skills. But once the season started, Sobey showed Carrillo he was getting a whole lot more.
“His first game as a freshman against Westwind Prep, Nathan took it to another level on gameday,” Carrillo said. “He blocked three perimeter jump shots and kind of wowed us.”
Sobey saw considerable playing time as a freshman on a Cochise team that turned it on late in the season to win Carrillo’s third NJCAA Region I championship, but he lacked the consistency to live up to his potential.
That all changed over the summer.
“Nathan, being far away from home adjusted well,” Carrillo said. “He went home and had a good summer. He was able to play organized basketball at a good level. He’s a superior leader and his work ethic this fall was as good as any player we’ve had.”
That work has paid off in a big way in Sobey’s sophomore year, as he’s led the Apaches to a 25-5 record, the sixth regular season conference title in school history and a No. 16 national ranking, on his way to being named to the first-team All-ACCAC, first team All-NJCAA Region I and an All-American nomination. It’s also gotten him considerable recruiting attention from a number of mid-major schools, including the University of Wyoming, which is flying coaches in to Bisbee-Douglas International Airport for tonight’s NJCAA Region I Semifinal game against Central Arizona College.
With a win tonight at home, where Cochise is 15-0 on the season, Sobey and the Apaches can move on to Saturday night’s region championship against the winner of tonight’s Eastern Arizona at Arizona Western semifinal. With a win Saturday, Sobey and seven other returning sophomores, can become the first class at Cochise to win back-to-back region titles in 12 years.
“I just want to win,” Sobey said. “I don’t care about individual achievements and stuff — the team’s first right now.”
The secret to Sobey’s success is the reckless abandon with which he makes plays, a disregard for his body he learned by playing Australian Rules Football back home. Sobey said he was playing football just days before departing for Douglas last summer.
“It’s all eye coordination with a ball,” Sobey said. “It’s a fast game that has a lot of athleticism in it as well. I think that’s where I got most of it from… I’ve been hit a lot harder than I’ve been hit on the basketball court.”
Sobey said he was named his team’s MVP playing midfield for his football team.
“I was just playing everywhere, basically — run around the whole field,” Sobey said. “I got to score and defend — I got to do it all.”
Doing it all is the best description there is for Sobey’s role as a sophomore at Cochise, as he’s second among five scorers in double figures at 16.8 points per game to go with 6.8 rebounds, 1.8 steals, 2.4 assists, while hitting 49 percent of his shots from the floor.
“I just like doing whatever I have to do with the team for us to get a win,” Sobey said. “Our team has more depth this year. We share the ball a lot.”
Sobey’s best basketball came during the Apaches’ school-record 17 game winning streak.
“Nathan put together a string of games in that streak where he was good in every aspect of the game,” Carrillo said.
All the accolades and team accomplishments won’t mean nearly as much for Sobey and the sophomore-laden Apaches if they can’t close the deal this weekend. And though they come in heavily favored tonight against fourth-seeded Central Arizona, the Apaches have already been beaten by the Vaqueros once this season.
“We split with them and they have very good talent,” Carrillo said. “I like our chances on our home floor. If we handle our business (tonight), someone’s going to have to travel across the state and come in here.”
Tip-off tonight is at 7:30 p.m.
Unlike regular season games at Cochise, there will be an admission charge for tonight’s game, and as well as for Saturday’s. Admission is $5 for adults, $3 for children, and Cochise College students with ID get in free.
Article from Feb 29, 2012
BY MATT HICKMAN
Herald/Review
DOUGLAS — In his decade-and-a-half as head coach at Cochise College, Jerry Carrillo has had neither much experience, nor much success with overseas prospects.
But Nathan Sobey came with a special reference.
Two years ago, Sobey sat the bench for the Warrnombool Seahawks, a semipro team in Australia, whose player/coach, Tim Gainey starred at Cochise from 2001-2003 before taking his game to Southern Utah University and ultimately, Down Under where he became the Seahawks’ leading scorer.
“Tim was one of the best players we’ve ever had; he turned himself into a good player,” Carrillo said. “He highly recommended Nathan, and more importantly, Tim knew the kind of guys we were looking for.”
Then a 20-year-old, Sobey was eager to take his coach’s advice.
“He’s my coach back home now and he’s one of my best friends as well,” Sobey said of Gainey. “Last year, he asked me if I wanted to go play college basketball. Next thing you know, he sent Carrillo a tape of me on Youtube, and I was out here in August.”
Upon Sobey’s arrival, Carrillo thought he might be getting a spot-up shooter with some ball-handling skills. But once the season started, Sobey showed Carrillo he was getting a whole lot more.
“His first game as a freshman against Westwind Prep, Nathan took it to another level on gameday,” Carrillo said. “He blocked three perimeter jump shots and kind of wowed us.”
Sobey saw considerable playing time as a freshman on a Cochise team that turned it on late in the season to win Carrillo’s third NJCAA Region I championship, but he lacked the consistency to live up to his potential.
That all changed over the summer.
“Nathan, being far away from home adjusted well,” Carrillo said. “He went home and had a good summer. He was able to play organized basketball at a good level. He’s a superior leader and his work ethic this fall was as good as any player we’ve had.”
That work has paid off in a big way in Sobey’s sophomore year, as he’s led the Apaches to a 25-5 record, the sixth regular season conference title in school history and a No. 16 national ranking, on his way to being named to the first-team All-ACCAC, first team All-NJCAA Region I and an All-American nomination. It’s also gotten him considerable recruiting attention from a number of mid-major schools, including the University of Wyoming, which is flying coaches in to Bisbee-Douglas International Airport for tonight’s NJCAA Region I Semifinal game against Central Arizona College.
With a win tonight at home, where Cochise is 15-0 on the season, Sobey and the Apaches can move on to Saturday night’s region championship against the winner of tonight’s Eastern Arizona at Arizona Western semifinal. With a win Saturday, Sobey and seven other returning sophomores, can become the first class at Cochise to win back-to-back region titles in 12 years.
“I just want to win,” Sobey said. “I don’t care about individual achievements and stuff — the team’s first right now.”
The secret to Sobey’s success is the reckless abandon with which he makes plays, a disregard for his body he learned by playing Australian Rules Football back home. Sobey said he was playing football just days before departing for Douglas last summer.
“It’s all eye coordination with a ball,” Sobey said. “It’s a fast game that has a lot of athleticism in it as well. I think that’s where I got most of it from… I’ve been hit a lot harder than I’ve been hit on the basketball court.”
Sobey said he was named his team’s MVP playing midfield for his football team.
“I was just playing everywhere, basically — run around the whole field,” Sobey said. “I got to score and defend — I got to do it all.”
Doing it all is the best description there is for Sobey’s role as a sophomore at Cochise, as he’s second among five scorers in double figures at 16.8 points per game to go with 6.8 rebounds, 1.8 steals, 2.4 assists, while hitting 49 percent of his shots from the floor.
“I just like doing whatever I have to do with the team for us to get a win,” Sobey said. “Our team has more depth this year. We share the ball a lot.”
Sobey’s best basketball came during the Apaches’ school-record 17 game winning streak.
“Nathan put together a string of games in that streak where he was good in every aspect of the game,” Carrillo said.
All the accolades and team accomplishments won’t mean nearly as much for Sobey and the sophomore-laden Apaches if they can’t close the deal this weekend. And though they come in heavily favored tonight against fourth-seeded Central Arizona, the Apaches have already been beaten by the Vaqueros once this season.
“We split with them and they have very good talent,” Carrillo said. “I like our chances on our home floor. If we handle our business (tonight), someone’s going to have to travel across the state and come in here.”
Tip-off tonight is at 7:30 p.m.
Unlike regular season games at Cochise, there will be an admission charge for tonight’s game, and as well as for Saturday’s. Admission is $5 for adults, $3 for children, and Cochise College students with ID get in free.
