Three sophomores of the 2018-19 Richard J. Daley College men’s basketball team – Shamond Garrett (Robeson H.S.), Levis Jackson (Irvington Prep/Indianapolis, Ind.) and Nathan Townsen Jr. (Bogan H.S.) – transferred to four-year colleges in August and are set to begin their athletic careers at their respective schools when games commence in November.
All three student-athletes signed letters of intent with NAIA institutions as Garrett is attending Williams Baptist University (Ark.), Jackson committed to Calumet College of St. Joseph (Ind.) and Towsen is at Peru State College (Neb.).
In his lone season at Daley, Garrett shot a team-best 49.7 percent from the field and led the Bulldogs with a 1.0 blocks-per-game average. He also averaged 6.9 rebounds and 15.9 points per game to place second and third on the team, respectively.
A 6-foot, 6-inch guard/forward, Garrett had personal bests of 28 points and four blocks against Kennedy-King College on December 18, 15 rebounds in the Prairie State game December 20 and five steals versus Illinois Valley Community College on November 29.
Garret published double-doubles against Kennedy-King, Prairie State and Ancilla College (Ind.) on November 8.
Garrett is a liberal arts major at Williams Baptist, which is a member of the American Midwest Conference.
During his two-year stay at Daley, Jackson averaged 6.5 points, 2.4 rebounds, 1.7 assists and 0.9 steals in each of his 59 appearances. He had 16 double-digit scoring efforts, including four games in which he netted 23 points or more.
In 2018-19, Jackson produced per-game clips of 8.7 points, 2.4 rebounds, 1.4 assists and 1.0 steal while also establishing single-game career highs of 25 points against Joliet Junior College on November 6, eight rebounds versus Malcolm X College on February 12 and five steals in the Kennedy-King contest.
As a freshman, Jackson, a 5-10 guard, dished off a personal best six steals against Lincoln Land Community College.
Jackson, who received an Associate in Arts degree at Daley in May, is majoring in communications and digital art Calumet College.
CCSJ competes in the Chicagoland Collegiate Athletic Conference.
Townsen, a 5-11 guard who played one season at Daley, averaged team highs of 4.3 assists and 2.7 steals per game in 2018-19. He reached double figures in scoring in 23 of 26 games en route to producing a 17.0 points-per-game average.
Townsen scored as many as 29 points in a game twice – versus Saint Xavier University JV on November 26 and Kennedy-King on January 26. In addition to the point production against Saint Xavier, Townsen also recorded a personal best 10 assists to author his second and final double-double of the season. In his first double-double, he tallied 25 points to go along with an all-time high of 10 rebounds in the College of Lake County game November 13.
Defensively, Townsen had a career-best nine steals against Harry S Truman College on February 2.
Townsen is majoring in marketing at Peru State, one of 13 colleges in the Heart of America Conference.