Men’s Basketball 6/16/2020 9:53:00 AM Ryan Shumaker

Eastern New Mexico head men’s basketball coach Brent Owen recently announced the signing of a pair of junior college transfers in Cornell Greenwood from Yuba College and Jared Perry from Butler Community College.

The pair will be the first signees during the Owen era after being announced as the 14th head men’s basketball coach in the history of Eastern New Mexico University on May 4th. Greenwood was named the Yuba College Male Athlete of the Year in both his freshman and sophomore campaigns while Perry was named a top 20 recruit in the state of Arizona by D1Nation.com for the class of 2018 after averaging 14 points per game and 12 rebounds per game for Paradise Honors High School his senior season.
“With this first recruiting class we are looking much deeper that just basketball talent.” Coach Owen said, “We want to recruit high character guys who have toughness, work ethic and who are relentless about winning.”

Greenwood was one of the top junior college talents in the state of California in each of his two seasons at Yuba as he was named the Big Valley Conference MVP as both a freshman and a sophomore after averaging 12.0 points and 7.2 rebounds per game for his career. The Marysville, Calif. native led his team with 6.3 rebounds and 2.4 steals per game this winter, guiding Yuba to a record of 24-6 for the year.

He finished his career at Yuba College as one of the most decorated athletes in school history after becoming the first men’s basketball player to sweep all major awards both years at the school. He was named a First Team All-State selection for both years after being named a league MVP and Appeal-Democrat Player of the Year during his senior season at Marysville HS.

“We are very excited to add Cornell to our program.” Coach Owen said, “On the court he can do it all. He is a scorer and adds a much needed shooting presence to our team, but he can also create for others, rebound and really defend. One thing that stood out during the recruiting process was that his high school and junior college coaches both said that he was one of their “favorite players they had ever coached” and both talking about his toughness. Cornell will bring the toughness and work ethic we are looking for with him to Eastern, and that will allow him to be an impact player right away.”

Perry will join the Hounds in 2020-21 after transferring from Butler Community College last semester following a preseason injury at Adams State. The 6’7 forward appeared in 23 games as a freshman at Adams State and was one of Arizona’s top prep performers in the class of 2018 after averaging 13.3 points and 12.0 rebounds for his career.

He led the Panthers to 28 wins his senior season will have three years remaining of eligibility for the Greyhounds after sitting out the 2019-20 season following his injury.

“Jared is a major key for now and for the future.” Coach Owen said, “Big men who are physical, tough and play hard every day are extremely hard to find. Jared has all of those qualities to go along with his skill set and ability to play above the rim. He added twenty pounds of muscle after his freshman year of college and was ready for a great sophomore run before an injury in October of 2019 ended his season. Jared has already completed his associates degree with above a 3.0 GPA and we could not be more excited to add Jared to the Greyhound family. His work ethic and toughness are exactly what we were looking for as we work to build a culture of success in this program.”

The 2020-21 roster will continue to take shape for the Greyhounds as we move closer to the start of the academic season. Stay tuned to GoEasternAthletics.com for more information in the coming weeks regarding Greyhound Men’s Basketball.