The Lewis & Clark Community College men’s basketball team is enjoying another 20-victory season under the direction of former University of Illinois star Deon Thomas (pictured). The Trailblazers are currently 20-6 and ranked No. 12 in the latest National Junior College Athletic Association Division II poll. They are also in first place in the Region 24 standings.

It is Thomas’ first collegiate coaching job. After a brilliant college career at Illinois, where he scored 2,129 points, Thomas spent 12 successful years playing professional basketball overseas. He retired in 2006 and moved to Florida, where he was coaching high school basketball. When the job of basketball coach and athletic director at Lewis & Clark opened up after last season, Thomas decided to make the move back to his home state of Illinois. He was a former prep star at Chicago Simeon High.

    Thomas and top assistant Milton Stith have done an excellent job of putting together a talented team that hopes to make some noise in the upcoming regional tournament in March.

    “We are still a work in progress, but I’m happy with the way things are going so far,” said Thomas, who graduated as the Illini’s career scoring leader. “We have gotten a lot of support from the administration and the community.”

    The Trailblazers have a balanced scoring attack, led by 6’8” freshman forward Rico Pierrevilus. The Florida native is averaging a team-high 11 points a game. Jimmy Payton, a 6’4” sophomore from Chicago, is averaging 10 points a game.

  A trio of local players are also big contributors to the Trailblazers’ success. Freshman guard Anthony Jones (Cardinal Ritter) is averaging 10 points a game. Jones scored a game-high 25 points in a victory over Shawnee last week. Sophomore Marcus Johnson (Hazelwood Central) runs the show as the starting point guard while 6’4” sophomore Justin Jones (Belleville Althoff) averages nearly 10 points a game.

  Also in the mix are 5’9” freshman Darius Lowery from Chicago, 6’2” freshman Bryson Smith from Florida and 6’7” freshman forward Gavin Scott from Brooklyn, N.Y.

   Adding more excitement to the Lewis & Clark program next year will be the move up to the NJCAA Division I level. The imminent move to Division I was one of the major factors that lured Thomas to Lewis & Clark, where he is also the school’s athletic director.

    “We’re very excited about moving up to Division I,” Thomas said. “Dr. (school president Dale) Chapman is really stepping it up, so we have to step it up as well.”

    Lewis & Clark has three regular season games remaining before heading to Shawnee, Ill. for the Region 24 Tournament, which begins on March 6.