Essex's Sholes signs with Iowa Western Basketball
Essex senior Isaiah Sholes signed Friday, May 1, with Iowa Western Basketball. Sholes is seated between parents Wade and Stephanie Sholes. Brother Wade is standing.
Essex senior Isaiah Sholes will continue his standout basketball career in college.
Essex’s third 1,000-point scorer in the history of the boys basketball program signed Friday, May 1, with Iowa Western.
“I have always heard so much about their coaching,” Sholes said choosing Iowa Western, “and I know if I want to really expand on my basketball career, I’m going to need good coaching. They have the best that I have heard of and they are close to home, which is huge for me.”
Sholes said continuing to play basketball was a no-brainer.
“Basketball is what I want to do with my free time most of the time,” Sholes said. “I would love to play it for as long as I can.”
Sholes finished his Essex basketball career with 1,051 points and 782 rebounds. Combining just his junior and senior seasons, he scored 838 points and collected 546 rebounds.
Essex senior Isaiah Sholes drives to the basket Friday, Jan. 30, during his historic night in which he scored his 1,000th career point.
“My freshman year I had two PE classes,” Sholes said, “and played basketball a lot in those. I would stay after school and play basketball with my friends and just got constant reps. I went to a few camps and any time I would find someone better than me, I would ask them what I could work on and kept working on that.”
Sholes now looks ahead to making the jump from the Corner Conference to playing Junior College basketball. He’ll begin his college career as a junior varsity player in Iowa Western head coach Andy Shaw’s program. The Reivers, based out of Council Bluffs, won 23 games and made a regional final this past winter. Sholes said the transition to playing in college is going to be extra tough because he’s also having to change positions.
“I have been a center my entire career,” Sholes said, “and now I’m going to be a guard. That’s going to be rough but I have been working on my skills a lot and I just need to work on the mindset of being a guard and where my place is on the court.”
It’s been reportedly about 25 years since a male athlete from Essex has signed to play a sport in college and Sholes said that’s an awesome opportunity for him to represent his school and community.
“I love this community and being able to show some light on it,” Sholes said, “and hopefully there is more after me too.”
Sholes plans on pursuing a business degree at Iowa Western.
