FACS’S Egbuniwe is quietly becoming a star

Senior averaging 19.7 points and 11.4 rebounds

Daniel Egbuniwe is unselfish, sometimes a little too unselfish.

Like on Friday night during First Assembly Christian School’s game against St. George’s. Egbuniwe, a 6-foot-8 senior forward, passed up an easy layup inside to kick it to one of his teammates on the perimeter.

For FACS coach Dee Wilkes, that’s a good problem to have with your star player. Somebody who can score when they want, but chooses to get the rest of the team involved.

“To me, that’s the type of player you want on your team,” Wilkes said, following FACS’S 63-47 win over St. George’s.

Egbuniwe has always been talented. Wilkes noticed Egbuniwe’s potential long before he reached his height and skill level.

When Egbuniwe was just a freshman, he led the team with 25 points during a big game.

“When I first started playing I didn’t take it serious, I was just playing,” Egbuniwe said.

When FACS made it to the state championship game in 2020, Egbuniwe said that was his motivating factor to keep playing: to win a state championship.

In his final season, he’s doing just that for the Crusaders (16-2).

He’s averaging 19.7 points and 11.4 rebounds per game. Defensively, he’s averaging 4.2 blocks and 2.3 assists.

But he isn’t concerned about himself. Not his stats, or his recruitment. He’s confident he’ll be able to play Division I with several offers from Little Rock, Jacksonville,

Radford, Tennessee State and UT Martin . But with Southern Missouri, Southeast Missouri State and UT Martin in attendance for Friday’s game, Egbuniwe wanted to make sure his teammates got a chance to shine, too.

“The attention is good,” Egbuinwe said, “but I have offers already. I’m trying

to get my teammates onto the same level.”

Egbuniwe chooses to be humble. He isn’t flashy.

When he made his two dunks Friday, he quickly hustled back on defense. He didn’t celebrate, shout or even raise his arms. He left that to the fans and student

section.

He just played the game. Something he once saw as just a hobby. Now, it could be his future.

“I think his better days of basketball is ahead of him,” Wilkes said.

Reach Wynston Wilcox at wwilcox@gannett.com.

CHRISTINE TANNOUS / THE COMMERCIAL APPEAL First Assembly's Daniel Egbuniwe (0) attempts to score while St. George's Tristin Fleming (23) and Fred Deere (10) try to block him Friday. First Assembly Christian School won 63-47.