Avery takes home high honors

Javelina basketball star collects athletic accolades

avelina junior guard Creighton Avery (Corpus Christi, Texas) added one more honor to his already stacked list of accolades for 2020-2021 on Monday, when he was named to the National Association of Basketball Coaches All-South Central Region Second-Team. “It feels good knowing that all the work the team put in paid off, all my individual work as well,” Avery said.

This comes after Avery finished the regular season by earning spots on the All-Lone Star Conference First-Team and LSC All-Defensive Team. He’s the first Javelina since Remi Yusef in 2006 to collect an all-region nod.

Coach Johnny Estelle holds Avery in high regards as he feels he is one of the key pieces on the team that holds it together.

“He leads differently but he is a leader,” Estelle said. “I think he leads by example and he initiates a lot of our leadership within the program.”

Avery put together a junior campaign in which he posted a scoring average of 14.3, TAMUK’s highest since Rashad Basey averaged 16.5 points per game in 2013-14.  Assistant Coach Omar Gonzalez has high praise for Avery as well.

“I think Creighton Avery is a fantastic leader, and a fantastic role model to his teammates. He’s a high academic kid, he helps organize the guys when things are going wrong and is just an all-around great teammate,” Gonzalez said.

Avery also led his team in assists and steals and topped the squad in shot attempts while shooting nearly 50 percent from the field. He reset his career-high in points four times, the last instance coming in the LSC Tournament quarterfinals, when he poured in 32 points against Angelo State.

Coach Estelle piggybacks on what he said explaining that Avery is a model student, has high expectations and a drive to get better and be the best at what he does on and off the court. 

Estelle knows Avery is committed and willing to do what it takes to elevate this basketball program to the LSC Championship

“He’s committed, he bleeds gold and blue and that’s what Kingsville needs – more attitudes like Creighton Avery’s in my opinion,” Estelle said.