Oakwood Basketball Standout Damiyne Durham Commits to Baylor

Sports fans know that East Texas is football territory and rarely produces Division I basketball players.

Well, consider the 2014 class one of those rare instances.

Oakwood hoops star Damiyne Durham committed to Baylor on Saturday, according to SicEmSports.com. The 6-foot-5, 175-pound guard picked the Bears over numerous big-time offers, including Auburn, DePaul, Kansas State, Marquette, Memphis, Memphis, Texas, and Texas A&M, according to ESPN Central Texas.

Durham, a high-volume scorer with great shooting range and exceptional athleticism, was a first-team selection to ETSN.fm's 2013 East Texas Boys Basketball Super Team after averaging 27.6 points, 8.5 rebounds, 4.1 steals, 2.4 assists, and 1.1 blocks. He led the Panthers to the Class A Division II Region IV championship game, where Oakwood fell to eventual state finalist Douglass.

With plenty of high-major Division I offers, Durham is the most highly-recruited East Texas boys basketball player since Nacogdoches graduate and former Texas Longhorns star Damion James, who was picked 24th overall by the Atlanta Hawks in the 2010 NBA draft. James graduated from Nacogdoches in 2006, the same year Pittsburg produced former Wichita State post J.T. Durley.

The region produced two D-I signees in the 2013 class: Cayuga's Preston Anderson (Hartford) and Pleasant Grove's Dustin Thomas (Colorado). Both were ETSN.fm first-team Super Team picks.

Pittsburg 2008 graduate Kendall Wright played one basketball season at Baylor, but was on scholarship for football and eventually got picked by the Tennessee Titans in the first round of the NFL draft.