Article Image Alt Text

Morgan City High School's Makye Richard has inked with Baton Rouge Community College to continue his basketball career. Richard held a signing ceremony Monday at Morgan City High School. Seated, from left, are Leroy Trim, father; Richard; and Umeeka Richard, mother. Standing, are Morgan City High School Basketball Coach J.P. Piper, Jermane Grimm, mentor; Betty Wesley, grandmother; Gregory Johnson II, brother; Linda Richard, sister; Malcolm Clark, brother; and Morgan City High School Assistant Basketball Coach Kevin Lewis. (The Daily Review/Geoff Stoute)

Morgan City High School's Richard heading to BRCC for hoops

Morgan City High School’s Makye Richard will continue his basketball career on the next level as he signed with B a t o n R o u g e Community College Monday during a ceremony at Morgan City High School.
Richard, a standout for the Tigers who earned honorable mention Louisiana Sports Writers Association Class 4A All-State honors his junior and senior seasons, averaged 12.6 points per contest as a senior. He concluded his senior season as the District 7-4A Defensive Most Valuable Player and helped lead Morgan City to the second round of the Class 4A playoffs.
He said it’s a “real good feeling” to be able to continue his basketball career in college.
“I’m just ready to get out there and show what I can do,” Richard said.
M o r g a n C i t y Basketball Coach J.P. Piper said he thinks Richard is just beginning to achieve his potential.
“I think he has tremendous upside,” Piper said. “He’s only going to get better and better as he works at the college level, gets consistent coaching. Poor guy’s had four coaches in four years, so I think some stability for him will be good. Playing against guys as good as he is every day at practice’s going to force him to get better, which I think he needs. There were a lot of days at practice where we didn’t have anybody to push him since he was clearly the best player in the gym.
"In terms of what he meant to us, he was our leader. … I felt like behind his leadership, we were as good as any team in the state on any given night,” Piper added.
Richard said that B a t o n R o u g e Community College is recruiting him to be a combo-guard
As for what he needs to work on, Richard said his bounce passing and shooting are two areas he needs to refine his game.
Piper, who previously coached at Nicholls State before coming to Morgan City, has been on the opposite side of signings many times, evaluating players. He said that scoring is what Richard needs to improve on.
“He’s got to become more consistent,” Piper said. “Again, in fairness to him, he’s probably has four different offensive systems in four years, so there were nights were he wasn’t sure what to do. He’s got to gain some confidence about when and where to get his buckets and just become a consistent scorer.
"When you look at our schedule, the nights he made buckets, we won," Piper added. "The nights he struggled to score, we didn’t win. That’s normal, quite frankly. He has the potential in my mind to be a big-time defender at the next level. I think he’s a D-1 defender. Not quite a D-1 offensive player yet. He’s just got to hone his game, and that’s just honors in the gym, which he doesn’t mind doing. He’ll do the work I’m sure.”

ST. MARY NOW

Franklin Banner-Tribune
P.O. Box 566, Franklin, LA 70538
Phone: 337-828-3706
Fax: 337-828-2874

Morgan City Review
1014 Front Street, Morgan City, LA 70380
Phone: 985-384-8370
Fax: 985-384-4255