Cam Edwards is one of the reasons Radford has won back-to-back Three Rivers District regular season and tournament titles.
Marty Gordon
NRVsports@ourvalley.org
Cam Edwards has been the third wheel of a very successful Radford High School junior class. He, along with Quinton Morton-Robertson and Miles Jones, have led the Bobcats to back-to-back state boys’ basketball titles.
The trio has played together since fifth grade through rec leagues, travel AAU teams and the eighth grade and jayvee squads. Now they have become one of the most dominating high school basketball teams in the state.
The threesome has cumulated more than 100 wins in their career and don’t seem to be slowing down. Edwards has stepped up in the past 10 games, especially after Jones was limited because of a knee injury. During that time span, he averaged 12.6 points per game including two of 20-plus points.
Coach Rick Cormany switched Edwards to power forward to help while Jones was slowed. He has been, according to his coach, scoring in a variety of ways.
“He has become more productive and has kept a lot of balls alive for us. He had to step up when Jones went down,” the coach said.
The team has remained unbeaten this year. The Bobcats storm into sub-regional play as the team to beat, and Edwards might be the key to how far the team goes this season.
Edwards’ field goal percentage is up to 45.5 percent and his three-point numbers are at 37.8 percent.
“I really think Cam has gotten tougher and stronger this year,” Cormany said.
The junior forward agrees and believes it was the change in position that pushed him harder.
“I decided to be more aggressive when coach gave me a bigger role,” Edwards said.
Wednesday, he was named to the All-Three Rivers District boys team. Edwards said it has been fun to play with Jones and Morton-Robertson.
“I think we make each other better and know each other’s strengths,” he said.
The difference for Edwards, at least this season, has been offseason weightlifting adding muscle in all the important places.
Additionally, he added two or three inches of height to be listed at 6’4 this year and has been running the floor better. With that has come some hard nose defense.
He even found some time to play football the past two seasons, which both he and his coach helped him on the court.
An injury in the fourth game of the football season did slow him down and forced him to get to sit until he was healthy.
He hasn’t shown any signs that the injury might still be nagging him. Instead, he has become a leader on a team that only boasts one senior.
“We (Edwards, Jones and Morton-Robertson) have played so long together it is like we’re seniors and have to lead the younger players,” Edwards said.