Oklahoma State University Athletics
Men's Basketball Signs Melvin Sanders
April 12, 2000 | Cowboy Basketball
April 12, 2000
STILLWATER, Okla. -- Melvin Sanders, a 6-5, 205-pound swingman from Liberal, Kan., has signed a letter of intent with the Oklahoma State men's basketball program.
A freshman in 1999-2000, Sanders was selected first-team All-Jayhawk Conference and honorable mention all-region after leading Seward County Community College to a 23-9 record. He averaged 13.7 points and 5.4 rebounds, upping those numbers to 15.6 points and 5.6 rebounds during conference play.
"We're very excited to have Melvin join our basketball program," said OSU coach Eddie Sutton. "He's a tremendously gifted athlete, and he's become a fine basketball player. We saw him last year at this time, and his improvement has been impressive. Melvin's happy to be a Cowboy, and we're very happy to have him."
A 33-percent three-point shooter, Sanders hit 19 of 25 shots beyond the arc during an eight-game stretch late in the year. During that time, he scored 29 points against top-ranked Barton County, hitting five of six threes in that game. He hit 74 percent of his foul shots during the season, including 84 percent in conference games, topped by an 11-for-12 performance in one contest.
Sanders is also a top track and field athlete nationally. In high school, he recorded a high jump of 7-2 to go with a 52-foot triple jump and a 25-foot long jump. He won the Kansas state championship in those events in his sophomore, junior and senior seasons at Liberal HS.
"Melvin is a fine player who really stepped up and improved his game this year," said Seward County coach Dave Brown. "In his senior year in high school, he hit 64 percent from the line and only hit something like five three-pointers all year. But he really improved from the outside this year, and now he'll have three years of Division I competition to hone his game against. He's a very good kid who takes care of his books -- he carried 17 hours last fall with a grade-point average over 3.0. He's a tough one for us to lose, but I'm very happy for him to be at Oklahoma State."
