Earnest Hall

Guard, (Years played-1975-1976), Compton , Cal .

Earnest transferred to WVU from Compton Community Junior College , where he had been associated with winning basketball for two seasons. Compton Coach Jim Newman described Earnest as possibly the best point guard to have played at Compton . Compton 54-14 record poke for itself as Earnest led the team to one state junior college title and one second place finish. Earnest was named Most Valuable Player in the state JC tournament his freshman year at Compton as they rolled to the championship. His sophomore year they again reached the finals but finished second. Earnest was an excellent bal handler and averaged 13.6 points per game his sophomore year. He led his team in assists, averaging seven per game and also added 4.2 rebounds a contest. That same year Earnest was named captain of the California AAU all state team and earned a place on the first team all-Western State Conference squad. Going into his junior year it was believed that Earnest would add immediate backcourt help to the 1974 team. He was considered the type of player who made things happen in addition to having the ability to see and hit the open man. He was also an excellent passer and dribbler. Earnest lived up to his advance billing as he broke into the Mountaineer starting line up leading the squad in assists, maintaining a good scoring average and directing the WVU offenses. "LA Slim" as he was known started all 27 games for the Mountaineers and led them in assists with 91, outdistancing his closest rival by 16 and contributing 271 points for a 10.0 average per game. Earnest also connected on 45.1 percent of his field goal attempts and hot 67.7 percent of his bonus shots. He also added 107 rebounds, fourth best on the squad.