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PUTNAM — A season that ended in the National Prep Tournament after a 38-2 record, the 2019 class at Putnam Science Academy was truly special. Not too many teams in New England or even the country can say they had 9 players commit to Division 1 schools. With Abou Ousmane announcing his commitment to Division 1 Cleveland State, that made it 9 players from last years’ team that will play college basketball on a full scholarship.
Russell Tchewa (Texas Tech), Nate Stokes (Bryant), John Buggs III (UMass), Justin Winston (St Bonaventure), Tyson Etienne (Wichita State), Akok Akok (UConn), Charles Pride (Bryant) and Kareem Reid (Gardner Webb) all were key components and will go down as one of the most successful classes in Putnam Science Academy history.
Eleven players in total have received offers and will play at the next level including 2019’s Mohamed Sylla and Putnam’s own Dan Porcic, who committed to Division 2 Concordia College. Putnam Science Academy will now have to replace a large part of the team with only two returning players in Hassan Diarra and Mart Silvera but the Mustangs have remained busy adding Terrell Ard Jr from Georgia, Melvyn Ebonkoli from France and Johhnie Williams from Florida with more kids to come as the summer begins.
Expect to see more from this group later in the year and potentially into March with Tchewa heading to the National Championship game runner up in Texas Tech. Akok Akok is sure to make Connecticut headlines as he stays local at UConn with Dan Hurley and Tyson Etienne ready to run point guard for a Wichita State Shocker team that will look to bounce back from a disappointing season under Gregg Marshall.
Josh Sanchas
Sports Information Director
Putnam Science Academy
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