Hall to play hoops at Erskine

Published 8:58 pm Friday, May 14, 2010

The Erskine College mens basketball team may want to consider changing its nickname from Flying Fleet to Flying Cardinals.
Erskines lineup this year will look a lot like the Landrum High lineup of three years ago.
Landrum senior DeShaun Hall signed a scholarship Wednesday to play basketball at Erskine, joining former Landrum teammate Brandon Quarles, who is already there.
Quarles, a junior this coming season, starts for Erskine at wing. Hall, a point guard, may have a chance to join Quarles in the starting lineup as a freshman, says Landrum coach Lyn Smith.
“Forty percent of their lineup may be Landrum players so thats pretty neat,” says Smith.
The Landrum coach says he could tell immediately when Hall was a high school freshman that he has what it takes to play college ball.
“He has the work ethic and the commitment you need. Hell do well at Erskine,” says Smith.
The Landrum coach adds that Hall displayed leadership both on and off the court for the Cardinals and “did a good job in the classroom.”
The example set by players such as Hall and Quarles, he says, is important to the Landrum basketball program, and shows younger players what they can achieve even at a 1A school.
“Its exciting to be able to see someone can succeed at a small school,” says the Landrum coach.
Hall says he also considered North Greenville but went with Erskine largely because it plays in a conference where it has a chance to pursue a championship. Halls been playing basketball since around the 6th grade and hes been targetting a college hoops career almost as long. He knew when he was a freshman, he says, that he was on track toward that goal.
His four years playing at Landrum prepared him well for not only the next level of basketball, but the next stage of life, he says.
“We learned a lot about teammwork,” says Hall. “Coach Smith taught not just about winning, but taught how to succeed in life.”

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