Cheyenne guard signs with Wichita State

By Ray Brewer (contact)

Tuesday, April 28, 2009 | 1:47 p.m.

It’s safe to say Cheyenne senior guard Demetric Williams flew under the radar for most of his three-year varsity basketball career with the Desert Shields.

Playing in the same backcourt as Kansas signee Elijah Johnson, Williams was often viewed as an afterthought. His slender 6-foot-1, 175-pound frame didn’t do him any favors, either.

Williams, who averaged 17 points and six assists per game this winter in leading Cheyenne to the Sunset Regional semifinals, signed with Wichita State this week. He also had offers from SMU, VCU, Pepperdine, Montana State and Washington State.

“I felt I was as good as (Johnson) but people weren’t looking at me,” Williams said. “It motivated me a lot to prove them wrong.”

Johnson was rated by several recruiting services as one of the top players in the nation. Williams, however, had the better senior year. He averaged more points than Johnson and had a bigger impact on most games.

“He’s a great success story. He’s a kid no one knew about,” Cheyenne coach Teral Fair said. “He plays with a chip on his shoulder like he always has something to prove.”

Williams started to make a name for himself last summer playing for the Las Vegas Prospects AAU team. He was the last of six seniors — Johnson, Anthony Marshall (UNLV), Austin Morgan (Yale) of Reno and Mike Cutright (Northwestern State) — from the Prospects to sign.

“I can go to sleep now,” Prospects coach Anthony Brown said. “This is what I got into coaching for, to see guys like Demetric go off to college and get to experience the same things we did.”