PORT ARTHUR, Texas — For the past three years, Ke’Andre Jones has been dedicated to Port Arthur basketball.
“My first year here it was rough," Jones said. "I was playing with mostly football players and some transfers came in. I basically was just shooting. I’ll admit it wasn’t my best year. It was a learning year to get me ready for right now.”
Now Ke’Andre, or Keke as most know him, is one of the titans top scorers surpassing one thousand points before playoffs.
“I wasn’t expecting it," Jones said. "I saw everybody else getting their 1,000 points at their third year and I was wondering when I was gonna get mine.”
“He knows how valuable he is to the team and once he realized that, that’s what took his game to the next level," Titan coach Alden Lewis said. "He realized he has the ability to play. He realized that he actually could do it and that’s what gave him all the confidence in the world.”
Ke’Andre isn’t new to the spotlight since off the court he breaks school records in track and is a state champion high jumper.
“It’s a mentality that he knows that he has to have whenever," Coach Lewis said. "Whether it’s on the track and field or on the basketball side. It just gives him a lot of confidence knowing that he has the ability to do both at a high level and carry it over to basketball.”
“A lot of attention is on him every game so he’s done a good job adapting,” Coach Lewis said.
That attention isn’t just coming from opposing teams, but also, the next generation of Titans.
“It definitely means a lot like little kids come up to me," Jones said. "I be like, what’s all this for? I’m just playing basketball.”
“Well he’s a good kid on and off the court," Coach Lewis said. "He’s a shy kid but he’s a phenomenal student. He comes in every day ready to work whether it’s in the classroom or on the basketball court.”
Ke’Andre is raising the bar for the future of Titan nation.