Cougar Crowd Power

The Region 4 – 5A Tournament tips off tomorrow night just down the road from Clark, Texas at the UTSA Convocation Center. Reporters at the Express News, which dubbed Clark a “darkhorse” at the start of the playoffs still consider the Cougars an underdog based on the paper’s tournament predictions. But they’re also discussing the “great job” that Clark players and Coach Steve Sylestine have done to get to the Regional tourney. In their informal pre-tournament podcast reporters Lorne Chan and Blake Hurtik describe Clark as “scrappy” as they do a little dissecting of the upcoming games. Listen in.

Tickets for the tournament games will be $10 for adults and $7 for students with no passes accepted. That price gets you in for both games – Warren and Laredo United at 6:00pm and Clark and Laredo Alexander at 8pm. The winners will play on Saturday at noon and tickets will be $8 for adults and $5 for students. For out of town fans and those who can’t possibly get to UTSA on Friday night there will be a radio broadcast live online at tsrnsports.com.

So be there and Black Out the bleachers and support our Cougars all the way to State!

LET’S GO COUGARS!!!!

Coach Sylestine optimistic about 2010 squad

A tough non-district schedule has the Clark Cougars varsity boys basketball team ready for an even tougher district run.  In this article by Pat Turner, Head Coach Steve Sylestine talks about this year’s team.

The Clark boys basketball team beat Fort Bend Marshall in the Bronze Level  Championship game of the McDonalds Texas Invitational tournament. The Cougars won 54-44, led by 12 points from Niko Maxwell. Jacob Palacios added 10 and Adam Perez and Kyle Rutledge each had 8. (continue reading…)

From the court to showtime!

Catch Clark Cougar Elhad Emerllahu and Coach Steve Sylestine on Great Day SA tomorrow morning at 9am on KENS-TV.  Local high school sports expert Jay Tope of SASports.com will be talking to them about this past season and what’s ahead.

9am – KENS 5 TV Tuesday morning!  Positive coverage from a great voice for local high schools and athletes.  Thanks, Jay! and GO COOGS!

Clark Season Opens

The Clark boys basketball team opened their 2009-10 season with a solid victory over Highlands at Paul Taylor gym. The Cougars won 71-59, led by four players in double figures. Elhad Emerllahu had 24 points, Jason Brickman added 16, Ansley Benjamin had 12 and Manny Paz Y Puente tossed in 10.  This was the first game for Coach Steve Sylestine as a Cougar. Highlands and Clark met last season in the first round of the playoffs, a game Clark won.

Prior to the boys game the Clark girls also beat Highlands 63-55. Guard Carolyn Chavana had 17 points, Courtney Rhodes had 16 and Chloe Rhodes added 10. The win brings their season record to 5-1.

The girls will be in the Southwest Tournament beginning Friday and the boys will be in the NorthEast ISD Tournament, which starts on Thursday.

Elhad Emerllahu

The Clark boy’s basketball season gets underway this week with the Cougars at #3 in the Express News Area rankings. It’s a new era for Clark basketball with new Head Coach Steve Sylestine calling the shots. Longtime coach Kevin Hamilton retired at the end of last season to move to an assistant athletic director’s position with NISD.

Returning for the Cougars is Elhad Emerllahu, an All District and Area Super Team pick last year who sportswriters expect to compete for Player of the Year honors this year. Joining Emerllahu as a “Player to Watch” according to the Express News is senior guard Jason Brickman, who recently signed a letter of intent to play for Division 1 Long Island University next year. More on these and other talented returnees and new faces as the Clark season gets underway.

First game is  Tuesday at 6:30 against Highlands at Paul Taylor.

GO COOGS!

Clark guard Jason Brickman signed a National Letter of Intent to play basketball at Long Island University in Brooklyn. The Blackbirds play Division 1 ball in the Northeast Conference. The 5’10” Brickman will join former Taft H.S. forward Julian Boyd on the roster at Long Island.

Brickman and his Clark teammates begin the ’09-’10 season on November 17th under the leadership of new head coach Steve Sylestine.

Mr. Fundamental

A nice article on the sacommunities northwest website about Marshall football player Anthony Puente.  A success at the high school level, he also gives credit for part of his success to one of our own, Head basketball Coach Steve Sylestine.  You can read about it here.

From the Express News and Lorne Chan:

Steve Sylestine, who spent the past four seasons as the Stevens girls basketball coach, was named the boys coach at Clark.  Sylestine, 50, has a 245-156 record in 13 seasons as a head coach. The last boys team he coached was at Jay in 1997-98.  He replaces Kevin Hamilton, who left Clark after 24 years and 13 as head coach to become a Northside ISD assistant athletic director.

“Kevin’s a close friend of mine and it’s going to be a neat thing replacing him,” Sylestine said. “We’re going to try to continue the tradition that’s been established at Clark.”

MORE…Sylestine played high school ball at Clear Lake High and was named the best player of his class on a fan website.  He also played on two AAU National Championship teams, played college ball at Texas A&M University for Shelby Metcalf on the 1980 team that is considered the best team in school history.  Sylestine has been married for 21 years and has three children.  His most recent victory was winning his age class in UTSA’s Diploma Dash 5k in February.