Nashon McPherson

12 - Nashon McPherson

6-4/ 200/ Jr. /Guard
Jamaica, NY (Springfield, NY)

As a Sophomore (1998-99)

Enjoyed his best outing of the year against Cal Poly in the All-College Tournament (Dec. 30), hitting 6-9 FGs (3-5 on threes) and 5-6 free throws for a team-high 20 points in that double overtime victory; he also tipped in a missed shot to send the game into the OT.
His trey with 1:42 to play put the Toppers up for good in 76-66 win over #1 seed Louisiana Tech in the Sun Belt Tourney semifinals.
Scored a game-high18 points at New Orleans and was credited with 17 counters at Virginia Commonwealth.
The only Topper to hit for double figures at Butler, he came up with 13 points (5-9 FGs, 2-3 on treys).
Tallied 13 important points in the Southern Illinois win.
Had two double-doubles — 14 points and a career-high 10 rebounds vs. Southwestern Louisiana at home; and, 18 points and 10 boards at New Orleans.
Hit 32.3% on threes for the year — 35.1% (20-57) in Topper victories.
Was 3-6 at the free throw line in the first nine games, then he nailed 6-6 vs. Southern Illinois and hit 41 of his last 54 (75.9%) at the stripe.
Scored in double figures just once in the first seven games; but, hit for double digits 12 times in the last 22 games, averaging 10.2 ppg.
Tallied 260 points, just nine shy of 100 more than he totaled (169) as a rookie in the ‘97-98 campaign.

Led WKU over New Orleans on January 31 with 19 points and four steals in 34 minutes of action.
Scored a career-high 21 points on 9-14 shooting from the floor at Texas-Pan American (Feb. 5) and then followed that up with 13 counters at Southwestern Louisiana.
Put in double-figure minutes just once in the first five games, averaging 6.8 mpg, but played 11-plus minutes in 19 of 21 appearances from that point on.
Averaged 6.5 points per game for the year, but managed to score in double figures (10.7 ppg) in his last seven outings of the season.
Started 10 regular season games, including his last six. But, he missed the final three games of the regular season while nursing a knee injury.
Led the Toppers in steals per 40 minutes of action, averaging 2.7 thefts.
McPherson was one of three Hilltoppers to score in double figures (12) in an overtime victory over Jacksonville in the Sun Belt Tournament opener.

McPherson averaged 26.7 points, eight rebounds and six assists a game or Coach Damien Pinou at Springfield Gardens High in the Queens area of New York City.
A three-year starter, the southpaw totaled 1,319 career points with a single game high of 47 counters from his position on the wing — all despite constantly facing defenses geared to stop him individually.
Earned a berths on the All-State and All-Public School Athletic League Team as a senior.
Also honored as his team’s Most Valuable Player.
Tom Konchalski, publisher of High School Basketball Illustrated in New York, described him as “a streaky three-point shooter now (who) is going to be a real three-point shooter down the road. He’s got a great first step to the basket. He doesn’t know how good he really is, and he was a steal for Western.”
As a sophomore, he averaged six points an outing and he improved to eight points a game as a junior before blossoming as a major scoring threat his senior year.

Nashon McPherson was born July 19, 1977, in Manhattan, N.Y., and he is the son of Antony McPherson.
He is a sociology major at Western Kentucky.
McPherson sat out his first season on the Hill recovering from surgery to correct a problem in his left wrist. The injury originally occurred while he was in high school. However, team doctors’ examinations indicated it had not healed properly and McPherson underwent surgery in Bowling Green.