By Kenton Brooks

Phoenix Sports Writer

WARNER — The preseason for a junior college men’s basketball team is like a mound of clay for the coach to shape and mold his squad. That’s what coach Bill Muse has been doing at Connors State in playing an early schedule of junior varsity college teams.

He’s carved out a starting lineup now and they showed their athletic muscle Monday night in the 114-53 win against the Oklahoma Baptist University junior varsity at Melvin Self Field House.

For now, the starters include Ray Jones or J.J. Wesley at point guard, Stephon Weaver at shooting guard, Chris Blake at the small forward along with Justin Butler and C.J. Washington at center/power forward. Joe Fontenot is likely also see significant amount of starting time.

“I like this lineup because they’re athletic and fast,” Muse said.

That group combined for 67 points for the Cowboys, improving their record to 5-0 going into Thursday’s Region II opener against Redlands College in El Reno.

Muse looks for different things in these early games and was pleased with the play of Orlando Brown coming off the bench to score 17 points, 12 of them in the first half.

“I think he was a little disappointed with the minutes he got in the previous game on Saturday (against Richland, Texas College),” Muse said. “He came out with a chip on his shoulder and really played well.

“I’m (also) starting to see a little bit of chemistry of them understanding what we want them to do.”

Brown, a 6-foot-1 guard from Stringtown, was one of eight Cowboys to score in double figures. Connors led 57-32 at halftime.

Washington led the scoring barrage with 20, 14 of which came in the first half. The other double figure scorers were Chris Blake (13), Rakeem Couch (17), Wesley (12), Weaver (12), Fontenot (11) and Butler (10).

Connors’ athleticism showed early and often. For example, Brown stole the ball and passed it to Washington, who slammed it through with 6:54 left in the first half and increased the Cowboys’ lead to 37-28.

A finger roll layup by Washington with 5:14 left in the game put Connors over the 100-point mark.