NWADG Basketball

2018

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22 Northwest Arkansas Basketball Sunday, November 4, 2018 Basketball in the blood B asketball is in Alma junior Ce- jay Mann's blood. M a n n , t h e s o n o f A l m a girls coach and former Van Buren standout Codey Mann, is slated to take over point guard duties for the Airedales this fall after spending his sophomore season behind three-year starter Garrison Jensen. And Cejay has heard all the com- parisons to his dad, who once scored 46 points in a game against Russell- ville. "They say I play just like him," Ce- jay said. "They say I'm small like him, but I'm a way better shooter." His father's strengths were not shooting from outside the 3-point line, but Cejay is certainly a threat from long range. "They say I get my shooting ability from my mom," Cejay said, referencing his mother Gina Mann, who played college basketball at Des Moines (Iowa) Area Community Col- lege. She met Codey there after he started his college career at Arkansas Tech under coach Marty Barnes. The Manns also have a daughter, Lydia, an eighth-grader who will play up with the Airedales' fresh- man girls team and is expected to be a contributor for her dad at the varsity level next year. "We are 100 percent a basket- ball family," Codey said. The Airedales are counting on the 5-foot-10 Cejay to lead them as the team's point guard after playing a role off the bench last year as the sixth man. As a ninth-grader, he helped the Airedales win the ninth-grade regional championship. Mann will be the floor general for an Airedales team coming off a 17-9 sea- son last year, losing 51- 48 to Watson Chapel in overtime in the open- ing round of the Class 5A Tournament. Mann family has strong hoops DNA GRAHAM THOMAS NWA DEMOCRAT-GAZETTE CEJAY MANN SCHOOL Alma CLASS Junior HEIGHT 5-10 POSITION Point Guard NOTABLE Cejay Mann is the son of Alma girls basketball coach Codey Mann, a former Van Bu - ren basketball standout. … Averaged around 4 points per game as a sophomore as the Aire- dales' sixth man — first off the bench. … Comes from a basketball family with his dad and mom, Gina, who played at Des Moines (Iowa) Area Com- munity College. … Sister Lydia is an eighth-grader playing with the freshman team at Alma. "They say I play just like [my dad]. They say I'm small like him, but I'm a way better shooter. ... They say I get my shooting ability from my mom." — Cejay Mann, Alma point guard See MANN, Page 27 NWA Democrat-Gazette/J.T. WAMPLER C L A S S 5 A

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