Lights add early hoop recruit

Lights add early hoop recruit

Ryan Divish

Havre Daily News Sports Editor
rdivish@havredailynews.com

The 2005-06 basketball season hasn't even started and Montana State University-Northern men's head basketball coach Shawn Huse has signed a player for next season.

Huse announced that Cody Ball of Evanston, Wyo., has signed an NAIA national letter of intent to play for the Lights in the 2006-07 season.

Ball, a 6-2 shooting guard, suffered a broken foot during his senior season last year. He was considered one of the top players in Wyoming, but the injury and the questions that followed left him off the recruiting radar.

"Cody had to rehabilitate his foot for the entire season instead," Huse said. "He made a campus visit before school began this fall and really impressed me. He is going to continue to rehab his foot and take the year off from school."

The hard work of rehabilitation shouldn't be a problem for Ball.

"He is a guy who gets up well before dawn, works on his game and strength in the gym and weight room, goes to his day job, returns to the gym to finish his workout regimen and goes home late," Huse said.

As a junior, Ball helped lead Evanston to the Class 4A state championship and averaged eight points per game.

Frontier Conference fans will be familiar with Ball's family. His older brother, Danny, played two seasons for the University of Great Falls, where he earned all-conference honors as a deadly long-range shooter. Danny Ball transferred to Lewis-Clark State for his senior season and helped the Warriors advance to the NAIA national tournament.

Also suiting up in the Frontier Conference is Dana Ball, Cody's older sister. Dana Ball averaged 13.9 points per game last season for the Argos.

"Cody possesses a great deal of athleticism, skill and work ethic," Huse said. "He has the potential to be a dynamite player at the wing position in the Frontier Conference who could be fun to watch for Lights fans in the years ahead."