Growing up, senior Jake Bean and junior Troy Domen knew they were destined to be great together. The two Huskies spent many summers with each other, traveling to weekend tournaments, and countless hours in the gymnasium, to get where they are now.
Growing up, senior Jake Bean and junior Troy Domen knew they were destined to be great together. The two Huskies spent many summers with each other, traveling to weekend tournaments, and countless hours in the gymnasium, to get where they are now.
Bean has already committed to attending Kent State University, where he will play for the Golden Flashes baseball team. But that doesn’t mean he’s written off his basketball career.
On Jan. 6, the shooting guard notched his 1,000th career point in a win over Vienna Mathews, becoming just the second player in school history to achieve this accomplishment after 1997 graduate Todd Hill. He will be a four-year letterman in basketball.
Bean reflected on how he was able to accomplish this goal.
“Scoring is obviously the biggest part of the game, but the biggest thing for me was not forcing shots and just playing with the flow of the game,” Bean said. “Trying not to do anything that was outside of my ability, but just letting it happen throughout the course of my career.”
Although it wasn’t the most offensive game of his career, Bean came away with something bigger.
Before the win against Mathews, the Huskies had lost two straight games in performances that did not look like their best. But they got back on track Jan. 20 thanks to a more balanced offense, which took some pressure off of Bean.
“When you start forcing shots, and guys face-guard you, but you let things happen,” Bean said.
In the win, Bean scored eight points and dished out four assists. With help from Domen and senior guard Ethan Detweiler, the Huskies have provided more of an offensive spark under Head Coach Jon Cummins, who is looking to capture his first conference title in 18 years.
As for Domen, his action on the defensive end is something that you don’t see often. In just two and a half years, Domen has broken and tied two records. Last season, he tied the single-game steals record, with 12 against Grand Valley, and he broke the career record for steals, with 198, earlier last week. It was a record that had remained intact for more than 30 years for Tony Peters, who graduated in 1993.
“Defense is something I take pride in, and I like playing it,” Domen said. “Something that helped me when I was little was playing basketball with Jake, and I got to experience a lot of things that have helped me play defense.”
Domen averaged 4.3 steals per game last season, and his numbers this year are about the same.
So how did Domen and Bean’s on-court connection come about?
“Troy and I have been playing basketball together since we were toddlers,” Bean said. “I remember playing basketball during the summer in the driveway, almost getting into fights together, being competitive, and just making each other better.”
Coach Cummins’ one-two punch there is something special. Together, the two are averaging just over 30 points per game.
What would top off this year’s record-breaking season would be the team’s first conference championship in program history. The Huskies will soon look to avenge an early-season loss against the Hornets. Then they’ll rematch Campbell Memorial, a team that beat them in the third round of playoffs a season ago.
