Brandon Newsome enters his second season as Assistant Men's Basketball Coach during the 2020-21 academic year.
Newsome helped lead the SUNY Canton men's basketball program to its first-ever NCAA Tournament berth as the team captured the 2020 North Atlantic Conference (NAC) championship with a 72-71 road win at Maine Farmington on February 29, 2020. The Roos ultimately fell 74-49 to No. 17 nationally-ranked Springfield College in the NCAA Tournament First Round after earning just the second ever NCAA Tournament berth in school history for the Roos after the women's lacrosse team captured the 2019 NAC Championship.
Coach Newsome was key to leading SUNY Canton to a 16-12 overall record and 10-4 mark in NAC play during the 2019-20 season earning the two seed in the conference tournament in his first season as an assistant with SUNY Canton. Coaches Senthil and Newsome saw four of their players earn All-Conference honors headlined by NAC Defensive Player of the Year and First Team All-Conference recipient Andrew Fitch. Quran DuBois also earned First Team All-Conference accolades, while Joseph Werner and Danny Santana earned Second Team All-Conference nods.
Other season highlights included defeating Clarkson University (60-52) and crosstown St. Lawrence University (97-87) for the first time in a game that saw SUNY Canton hit an NCAA D-III era program record 17 three-pointers.
The Roos finished the 2019-20 season ranking highly in NCAA Division III in a number of categories both as a team and individually. The team was fifth in field goal percentage defense (38.0), fifth in blocked shots per game (5.5), fifth in total blocks (155), sixth in defensive rebounds per game (31.64), 11th in total rebounds (1,221) and 12th in total rebounds per game (43.61).
Individually Fitch was second in the nation in blocks per game (3.50) and total blocks (91). Werner ranked 28th in total rebounds (264) and 30th in offensive rebounds per game (3.46), while DuBois finished 37th in total steals (58).
As his top assistant, Newsome saw Coach Senthil be of just 30 honorees nationally across all divisions to be named to the 2019-20 Under Armour 30-under-30 team in the summer of 2020. The Roos also earned the NABC Academic Excellence award for having a 3.2 or higher team GPA for the 2019-20 academic year and saw five different players (Brandon Averitt, Brandon Blaker, Andrew Fitch, Ibu Smith, Joseph Werner) named to the NABC Honors Court. Fitch also became the first SUNY Canton basektball player to be named CoSIDA First Team Academic All-District.
Newsome came to Canton from Johnson & Wales University (RI), where he played two seasons with the men’s basketball team, winning a GNAC championship during the 2017-2018 season, and earning a bid to the NCAA tournament. Prior to attending Johnson & Wales, Newsome lettered for two seasons at North Country Community College. While at North Country, he worked with the Saranac Lake Special Olympics and coached the SLR team to a championship in the 2017 Special Olympic Games at SUNY Canton.
Newsome, a native of Syracuse, earned his Bachelor's degree in Sports Management from Johnson and Wales University (RI). He also has an Associate’s degree from North Country Community College in Sports and Events Management.
(Updated 1/5/21)
