Key commits to Division I University of Alabama
Barton Community College men’s basketball player Algie Key, who recently became the second two-time NJCAA All-American in Cougar history, has verbally committed to play basketball at the University of Alabama next season. A NCAA letter of intent signing will take place at 11:30 a.m. Wednesday, April 17, 2013, in Room P5A located in the lower level of the Kirkman Activity Center on the campus of Barton Community College. Public and media are welcome and encouraged to attend.
Algie Key, who earned third team national honors his freshman season, repeated on the third team to join former Cougar player Robert Whaley who garnered first team honors in 2001 and 2002. Named the Jayhawk West Division freshman of the year in 2012, Key adds the 2013 national award to his lengthy accomplishments playing for Head Coach Craig Fletchall. In his two seasons at Barton, Key helped lead the Cougars to a 54-13 record and back-to-back final four Region VI Tournament finishes including most recently to the region championship game. Along with the two-time national award, Key also repeated first team honors to the All-Jayhawk Conference West Division team, the All-Region VI Division I team, and the Region VI All-Tournament team.
Key averaged 17.6 points per game his sophomore season while also grabbing 6.2 rebounds and dishing out 4.4 assists per game. A Decatur, Georgia, native, Key assaulted the Barton record books in his two seasons, leaving the Cougar program atop the chart for career free throws attempted (536) and made (371), the top two spots in single season free throws attempted (280 in 2012, 256 in 2013), and owns the third and fourth spots in single season free throw made (189 in 2012, 182 in 2013). A unique balance of scoring and distributing to teammates, Key also finished his career fourth on the all-time list in scoring (1214 points) and assists (315). Playing in sixty-seven games as a Cougar, Key recorded one triple-double, thirteen double-doubles, and had twenty-seven games of scoring twenty or more points including six games reaching the thirty-point mark.