Sophomores Kanntrell Burney and Kenyawn Bowie bring their high-energy games back to the hardwood Wednesday, January 20, as Lamar State College Port Arthur tips off the 2021 NJCAA basketball season at Jacksonville College in Jacksonville, Texas.

 The 7 p.m. game will mark the first athletic contest of any kind for both colleges since all sports at two-year colleges were halted last March because of the outbreak of the coronavirus pandemic.

 Seahawks play their first home basketball game at 4 p.m. Saturday, January 23 at the Carl Parker Center, hosting Bossier Parish Community College.

The Seahawks softball team makes its return to action Friday-Saturday, January 22-23 in a tournament just outside Lafayette, Louisiana. Softball plays four weekend tourneys before opening Region 14 play February 26 at home against Kilgore College.

 Starting basketball season two months later than normal, teams in Region 14 won't play non-conference games, but will plunge immediately into a 22-game schedule that extends to the first week of April and includes home-and-home series against all participating Region 14 schools.

 "With all our games being conference games, we'll be thrown into the fire from the get-go," Lance Madison, Seahawks head coach, said. "It'll be good for the local fans because they get to see every team in the conference play. In the past, with our crossover schedule, they couldn't."

All 12 participating teams in Region 14 will play one another twice this year and each will move on to the regional tournament at the end of the season. In years past, the league was divided into two zones and schools did not play all the others in home-and-home series. But they will this year.

Bowie and Burney, two sophomores from Dallas, are the only two players returning from last year's squad that went 15-17 and scored a first-round upset of Trinity Valley Community College in the Region 14 tournament.

Burney, a 5-foot-11, 160-pound guard, started 13 games and was one of only five players seeing action in all 32 games. He was the team's fifth-highest scorer, averaging 7.5 points, 3.0 rebounds and 1.7 assists per game.

"I'm looking for him to show leadership," Madison said. "He's been through the wars before and he knows what it is to be successful. You can't take nights off. You have to bring your 'A' game every night."

Bowie, 6-9 and 250 pounds, appeared in 30 games last season, starting two at center. His big body was a force on the block but foul trouble limited his minutes. He finished his freshman season averaging 2.2 rebounds, 1.5 points and 0.8 blocks per game.

"He's more mature, he's filled out, gotten stronger and he has more confidence in his offense," Madison said of Bowie.

Seahawks newcomers include three junior college transfers, three Beaumont products and another whose name should be familiar to veteran basketball fans.

Adrian Caldwell II, is the 6-5, 225-pound son of a former Lamar University standout who spent a decade as a pro, most memorably with the Houston Rockets. The Seahawks recruit helped his Morton Ranch team to back-to-back district championships and deep runs in the Texas Class 6A playoffs last year.

Another big freshman with lofty expectations is Joseph Lucien, a 6-7, 215-pounder from West Brook, who was District 21-6A Defensive Player of the Year and first-team All-District as a senior.

"Joseph Lucien has been a pleasant surprise," Madison said. "He has a good motor and plays on both ends of the floor. I expect him to have a good year."

Other Beaumonters on the roster include 6-foot guard Nehemiah Lewis, who went to the playoffs with the last Beaumont Central squad in 2018 and started for Beaumont United's first squad, the 2019 District 21-6A champions; and 5-10 guard Li'Jon Smith, a West Brook grad who played on Navarro College's 2019 team.

Besides Smith, transfers include 6-foot sharpshooter Tydan Archibald from Trinity Valley CC and 5-9 guard Kobi Johnson from Clarendon College. Davon Wright from Cypress Springs and Nash Golaszewski from Tomball's Concordia Lutheran, a pair of 6-6 forwards; and 6-1 guard Desmond McQuain from Alexandria, Louisiana, are the other freshmen on the roster.

Archibald, a graduate of Houston Christian, was the fourth-leading scorer for an 18-13 TVCC team last season, averaging 9.9 points, 3.4 rebounds and 2.0 assists per game. He ranked No. 8 in Region 14 last year for 3-point shooting, hitting on 41 percent of his bonus shots.

A native of Thibodaux, Louisiana, Johnson played in 20 games for Clarendon's NJCAA Region 5 champs, averaging 2.5 points, 1.0 assists and 0.8 rebounds per game last year as a freshman. Wright averaged 22 and 7.5 and was first-team All-District 14-6A, while Golaszewski helped his team to a state title and McQuain averaged 16.3 points while leading Alexandria to the Class 5A state championship last year.