Markeith Cummings

Markeith Terrell Cummings (born December 21, 1988) is an American professional basketball player for Al Ahly of the Egyptian Basketball Premier League. He played college basketball for Kennesaw State University.

High school career

Cummings attended Alfred E. Beach High School in Savannah, Georgia where he was a three-time Chatham County first-team All-City honoree with the basketball team, a standout quarterback for the football team, and played catcher and center field for the baseball team.^[1] As a junior in 2005–06, he led the Beach basketball team to a 27-6 record and a berth in the Region 3-AAAAA Championship Game. As a senior in 2006–07, he averaged 14.3 points and 5.3 rebounds per game as he and future college teammate LaDaris Green led Beach to 28 wins and the Class AAAAA state basketball quarter-finals. He subsequently earned Savannah Morning News first-team All-Greater Savannah honors^[2] and was selected to represent the South All-Stars in the Georgia Athletic Coaches Association (GACA) high school all-star game.^[3]

College career

Freshman year

Cummings arrived at Kennesaw State after a very successful prep career at Beach High School and a post-grad year at Genesis One Christian School in Mendenhall, Mississippi, teaming with fellow Owl LaDaris Green at both schools. After he and Green redshirted the 2008–09 season, both players began their freshman seasons in 2009–10. Cummings made an immediate impact as a redshirt freshman as he appeared in all 33 games with 31 starting assignments. He earned second-team All-Atlantic Sun Conference and Atlantic Sun All-Freshman team honors after averaging 17.4 points, 6.1 rebounds, 2.1 assists and 0.9 steals in 34.0 minutes per game. He totalled a career-high 575 points, tallied double figures 32 times, led the Owls in scoring 21 times and earned Player of the Week honors two times.^[3][4] Despite being a freshman, his career high of 32 points scored on December 2, 2009 against Belmont was never eclipsed in his four-year career.^[5]

Sophomore year

As a sophomore in 2010–11, Cummings earned second-team All-Atlantic Sun Conference for a second straight season, led the A-Sun with a single-season career-high 18.3 points in 31 games (30 starts) while also contributing 5.0 rebounds, 1.8 assists and 1.5 steals in 35.5 minutes per game. He had a streak of 20 straight double-digit scoring games, scored 20 or more points a school Division I-record 14 times, led the Owls in scoring 17 times and earned Player of the Week honors once after scoring a season-high 31 points^[5] on 9-of-19 shooting and dishing out a personal-best six assists against Campbell on February 7, 2011.^[3][4]

Junior year

As a junior in 2011–12, Cummings earned second-team All-Atlantic Sun Conference for a third straight season after ranking second in the A-Sun in scoring with 15.4 points per game. After winning the A-Sun preseason player of the year and scoring 18 points in the season opener against Wisconsin, Cummings was suspended indefinitely by the school for "conduct detrimental to the team" and consequently missed the Owls' November 14 game against Auburn.^[6] However, Cummings returned from a one-game suspension on November 18 to score 21 points off the bench, leading Kennesaw State to a 65–59 victory over Chattanooga for Lewis Preston's first head coaching victory.^[7] He went on to record 25 double-digit scoring games while leading the Owls in scoring 12 times. On February 20, he tied a season-high 27 points against Jacksonville.^[8] In 30 games (29 starts), he also contributed 5.3 rebounds, 2.1 assists and 1.1 steals in 34.8 minutes per game.^[3][4]

Senior year

As a senior in 2012–13, Cummings became Kennesaw State's all-time leading scorer with 2,048 points as he finished his career fourth on the A-Sun Conference's all-time points list and just the sixth player in conference history to reach the 2,000-point plateau.^[2] He passed former leader Herman Smith (1986–90, 1,683 points) on November 18 with 13 points against Towson.^[9] The previous night, he scored a season-high 31 points against Radford.^[10] On January 15, he earned his fourth career Player of the Week honor^[2][11] and ended his senior campaign averaging 16.5 points per game.^[12] In 27 games (20 starts), he also contributed 4.4 rebounds, 1.4 assists ad 1.0 steals in 33.0 minutes per game.^[4]

On May 16, 2013, Cummings graduated from Kennesaw State University with a Bachelor of Science degree in Health and Human Services.^[13]

College statistics

Professional career

Philippines (2013)

In July 2013, Cummings signed with the GlobalPort Batang Pier as an import for the 2013 PBA Governors' Cup.^[14] In his PBA debut on August 14, he recorded 37 points and 11 rebounds to lead GlobalPort to a win over Air21 Express to open the Governors' Cup.^[15] He helped the team reach the quarter-finals where they lost to the Rain or Shine Elasto Painters on September 26. In 10 games for GlobalPort, he averaged 28.7 points, 9.8 rebounds, 2.8 assists and 1.6 steals per game.^[16]

NBA D-League (2013–2015)

On November 1, 2013, Cummings was selected by the Bakersfield Jam in the third round of the 2013 NBA Development League Draft.^[17] He went on to make his D-League debut in the season opener on November 22 against the Idaho Stampede, scoring 14 points on 6-of-9 shooting off the bench in a 121–113 loss.^[18][19] Despite an impressive debut, Cummings' role and subsequent minutes with the Jam began to drop over the course of the season as he appeared in just 28 out of 50 games while averaging 6.2 points and 1.6 rebounds in 12.2 minutes per game.^[20] He scored a season-high 24 points on 9-of-13 shooting off the bench on March 28 against the Los Angeles D-Fenders.^[21] Despite his limited opportunities in 2013–14, he was selected to participate in the NBA Development League's fifth-annual Elite Mini Camp in Chicago on May 12 and May 13.^[22]

On November 2, 2014, Cummings was reacquired by the Bakersfield Jam.^[23] On November 19, he was waived by the Jam after appearing in just two games.^[24] On December 11, he was acquired by the Westchester Knicks.^[25] After playing just eight minutes in his first two games for the Knicks, Cummings played 31 minutes off the bench against the Canton Charge on December 17 and scored a game-high 21 points in an 82–75 loss.^[26] He went on to average 12.6 points per game over the next five games before falling out of coach Kevin Whitted's rotation and eventually being released by the Knicks on February 17, 2015.^[27] In 19 games for the Knicks, he averaged 7.1 points, 2.2 rebounds and 1.4 assists per game.^[20] On March 18, he was acquired by the Sioux Falls Skyforce,^[28] and went on to make his debut for the team two days later against his former team the Westchester Knicks. In 25 minutes off the bench, he scored 12 points on 5-of-7 shooting to help the Skyforce defeat the Knicks, 112–96.^[29] In 11 games for Sioux Falls, he averaged 5.3 points and 1.7 rebounds per game.^[20]

Following the 2014–15 D-League season, Cummings spent time with the Savannah Storm of the East Coast Basketball League.^[30][31]

Poland (2015–2016)

On August 13, 2015, Cummings signed with Polski Cukier Toruń of the Polish Basketball League.^[32] On October 11, 2015, he made his debut for Toruń, scoring 12 points in a win over Turów Zgorzelec.^[33] On November 22, he scored a season-high 21 points in a win over Starogard Gdański.^[34] He topped that mark on March 12, 2016, scoring 28 points on 10-of-12 shooting in a win over Siarka Tarnobrzeg.^[35] In 36 games for Toruń in 2015–16, he averaged 10.5 points, 3.6 rebounds and 1.3 assists per game.

Egypt (2016–present)

On November 26, 2016, Cummings signed with Al Ahly of the Egyptian League.^[36]

Personal

Cummings is the son of Terrell Cummings and Matilda Steele, and has a brother, Jaden.^[3]

References

External links

• Markeith Cummings at plk.pl (Polish)
• Markeith Cummings at nbadleague.com
• Markeith Cummings at ksuowls.com