Cornish emerges as team leader for the Seawolves

By RENALDO DORSETT

Tribune Sports Reporter

rdorsett@tribunemedia.net

HEADED into his senior season with the Stony Brook Seawolves, Jaron Cornish has emerged as a team leader during offseason workouts.

Following a summer where he made his Bahamas senior men's national team debut, Cornish was back on campus in New York as the Seawolves looked to get an early start on strength and conditioning.

George Greene, assistant athletic director for Athletic Performance, said the senior point guard stood out early with his work ethic and inspiration.

"I think people throw around the word freak a lot when it comes to athletes, but Jaron Cornish is a legitimate freak. He has a 45-inch vertical. He tied Junior Saintel's vertical record last year and broke the department record with 40 inches from a standing vertical," Greene said.

"Everything he does is impressive, but the biggest thing is his positive energy, what he does every single day. So we're fortunate to have him, he did a fantastic job this offseason."

The Seawolves finished last season 13-19 and concluded with a loss to Vermont in the America East Conference semi-finals.

Cornish is the only senior on the Stony Brook roster this season, but Greene said the group of upperclassmen have already set the tone for the year ahead.

"Consistency is the biggest thing and that's what I give this team the biggest credit for. Every day they came in with consistent energy, consistent attitude and consistent effort. Over the course of a long summer, getting up and training at 7am everyday isn't easy to do but these guys put forth that effort and they're going to get the reward when they're more physically prepared for their season," he said.

"Another piece to that is the confidence you gain from going through all that as an athlete. I think one of the biggest transferable qualities from the court to the weight room is confidence.

"You're bigger, you're stronger, you're more efficient with your movement, you're jumping higher than your opponent, all those things carry over to the court and mentally you feel like you can do more the previous season."

Last season, Cornish played in 27 games, making 14 starts. He led the Seawolves in assists (77) and finished second on the team in scoring (8.6) despite missing the first four games of the season following knee surgery. He had eight points, five boards and five assists against Bucknell, tallied nine assists and four steals against Shawnee State, used a strong second half to help lead the way with 18 points and five assists in the late win over St Francis (PA) and put up 15 points and grabbed six rebounds at LIU Brooklyn in some of his key contributions off the bench.

He scored 11 points in his first start of the season at Columbia, led the way with 22 points, 18 coming in the second half, and added five assists against Hofstra, forcing overtime with a steal and immediate three-pointer with three seconds left in regulation, en-route to his first double-double (15 points and 10 rebounds) at Rutgers. He was named the America East Player of the Week for his play in the overtime win at Rutgers. His second double double came with 16 points and 13 rebounds at New Hampshire.

Off the court, the team was among the recipients of the 2017-18 National Association of Basketball Coaches (NABC) Academic Excellence Awards which recognises outstanding academic achievement by a team with a cumulative grade point average (GPA) of 3.0 or better for the season.

After advancing to their ninth consecutive America East Playoff semi-final, the Seawolves rounded out the year with a 3.16 spring semester GPA, graduating five seniors.

Eleven members of the 2017-18 squad boasted a 3.0 or higher cumulative GPA, with five of those student-athletes returning.

Ten Seawolves were named to the America East Honour Roll (3.0 or higher) for the spring semester.

This past summer, Cornish was one of just nine players to suit up for Team Bahamas as they earned their only win of the FIBA 2019 World Cup Qualifiers - an 83-82 win over the Dominican Republic.

The Bahamas led by as much as 13 in the fourth quarter when Cornish made a three-pointer to give the team a 77-64 lead with 3:57 left to play.

Cornish transferred to Stony Brook after completing two NJCAA seasons with the Broward College Seahawks in Fort Lauderdale, Florida.

As a sophomore, he averaged 18.7 points and 4.5 assists per game on 42 per cent from three-point range.

While leading his team in nearly every offensive category, Cornish was also one of the top players in the NJCAA and ranked in the top 50 Division I JUCO players in the nation in free throws made, made free throws per game, total points, steals and points per game. Cornish tallied 11 20-plus point games in his final season at Broward.

An Abaco native, he played locally at Agape Christian before transferring to Champagnat Catholic in Florida.