Ondekane headed to Wichita

By Neil H. Devlin, Mullen Sports Information Director
Talented strongman from The Congo opts for the Sunrise Christian Academy.
Mullen boys basketball has lost another starter for the 2019-20 season.

Senior Isaac Ondekane will be transferring to the Sunrise Christian Academy. He’ll head to the school in Wichita, Kan., on Monday, Aug. 12, according to Mustangs head coach Bob Caton.

At the end of the 2018-19 school year, another front-line senior-to-be, Isaac White, returned to Malvern Prep in Pennsylvania.

Concerning Ondekane, an interesting 6-foot-8, 255-pounder, Caton said “it’s a really good situation for him.”

Sidelined since early summer with an injured finger tendon on a dunk attempt that required surgery, Ondekane will be idle from contact until at least Oct. 1. But he’ll be joining a school with grades 1-12 that will offer the native of The Congo additional language classes as well as opportunities to play against prime prep-school foes.

“It’s something we talked about and it gives him an opportunity to go Division I at the end of June,” Caton said. “He can play there and they have the English classes to help him out.”

If Ondekane stayed at Mullen, Caton said, he probably would have to go the junior-college route because he has some catching up to do academically for the next level.

The past season, Ondekane helped Mullen to the Class 5A Sweet 16, a 16-10 overall record and 7-7 in the Centennial League. He was second on the Mustangs at 13.2 points per game and topped them with 12.2 rebounds and 1.7 blocks.

Caton remains undaunted at losing what could have been the premier guard-pivot combination in Colorado. Plus, there are now planet of opportunities for playing time for new, eager players.

“We’ll be awfully young,” he said. “We started playing better at the end of the summer. If some of the kids play like they can, we could be competitive.”
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