Zane Trace’s all-time leading scorer adjusting to college game at Otterbein University
CHILLICOTHE, Ohio (BVM) — Cam Evans will not be forgotten at Zane Trace High School, and has given many basketball coaches within the Scioto Valley Conference (SVC) nightmares over the years. Evans now plays collegiately for Division III Otterbein University, and in a year unlike any other, he has still been able to adapt to the next level.
As a junior at Zane Trace, Evans first began receiving interest from a few Division II schools. By senior year, he started garnering interest from numerous DIII schools as well. Otterbein University was one of them, and Evans could not pass up the opportunity to play for the Cardinals.
“The thing that really separated Otterbein from all the other schools was that I could really tell that everybody here was a family,” Evans said. “Coach Andy Winters really wanted to change the culture here. He always reached out to me and had somebody at my games and talking to me in person. They recruited me really heavily and always showed me that they would be there for me no matter what happened.”
Evans also chose Otterbein because they are a great school academically. Currently he studies allied health, and Evans hopes to become a chiropractor in the future.
But before his professional career begins, Evans is focused on contributing on the hardwood for the Cardinals. Coming into the program this fall, Evans was hoping to win freshman of the year in the conference and help Otterbein win as many games as they could.
Of course, the NCAA Division III season this winter has been very limited, and Evans has only ended up playing seven games with the Cardinals thus far. After a slow start, the guard put together a nice stretch in his final few contests, averaging a double-digit point-per-game total.
Although his freshman season is finished, Evans and his teammates are back in the gym looking towards a more normalized year next season. Evans has high expectations as he heads into the second season of his college tenure.
“We’re starting workouts again and are just looking to improve,” he said. “One of my goals is to become a player of the year in the Ohio Athletic Conference and if I have the opportunity I want to try and become an All-American. I want to bring a championship to Otterbein and just switch the culture. I just want to keep winning.”
If there is anyone who can help change the culture at Otterbein, it might be Evans, as he did so back home in Chillicothe, Ohio.
When he was little, Evans claims he always had a ball of some kind in his hand. While he also competed in football and baseball, it didn’t take long before Evans discovered his love and talent for basketball.
However, any success story often comes with obstacles. For Evans, that came in fourth grade when he got cut from his elementary school’s basketball team.
“That kind of hit me hard,” Evans said. “My mom told me that I could whine about being cut or I could play as hard as I could to make it to where I would never get cut again. I took that personally and just worked as hard as I could at basketball.”
Over the years, Evans has proved his natural scoring ability and has also developed into a team leader. That was fully on display as soon as seventh grade, where he helped his junior high team to an undefeated championship season.
After averaging around 20 points per game and helping his team become back-to-back champions in eighth grade, Evans was primed for a special career at Zane Trace High School.
As a freshman, the standout was one of three players from his class who got to suit up at the varsity level. He would also begin playing AAU ball that summer, allowing him to take a big jump in his sophomore season.
During the 2017-18 campaign, Evans upped his points-per-game average to double digits, and helped lead Zane Trace to the middle of the pack in the SVC.
The following season would be even more impressive for the Pioneers in large part due to the continued development of their star player.
“My junior year was when I took one of the biggest jumps of my career,” Evans said. “I led the league in scoring with like 25 points per game and we went undefeated in the league and got a sectional and district title. That wasn’t just because of me, we had a great team and great coaches. The community wasn’t used to winning that many games and every night we had a packed crowd that was with us the whole way.”
The district title game victory was the first for the Pioneers since 1970, creating a special moment for the team and community.
“After we won the district title, we once again had our whole community behind us and you could kind of tell that the culture had changed from the last 50 years,” Evans added.
The shooting guard also went on to score his 1,000th point as a junior. As a senior, he would go one further by setting the program record for points scored.
“That meant a lot to me,” Evans said. “It was always kind of in the back of my mind and when I broke that record, it was just kind of surreal to me because I never thought I would be able to do something like that. The whole community was behind me and it was a great moment for my family because that’s something not everybody gets the chance to do. It was especially great for me and my mom because she was there with me from the very beginning. Everyone kind of doubted us and we always had that chip on our shoulder.”
Evans averaged over 20 points per game as a second team All-Ohio player as a senior. He was also named district and conference player of the year. But perhaps more importantly, the Pioneers once again won a district title.
“Winning back-to-back district titles meant everything to us seniors,” Evans said. “I just tried to be the best that I could and being named second team All-Ohio, district player of the year and league player of the year meant a lot to me and just showed that the hard work paid off.”
While Evans is a clear talent, he gives ultimate credit to those around him who have helped him get to the point of now playing college basketball.
“My family is always there for me and always told me to stay humble,” Evans said. “A lot of coaches also go into making me who I am. And of course my teammates were always there supporting me and they wanted to win games as much as I wanted to win games. That really helped us along the way.”
And as he hopes to now turn the culture around at Otterbein, what he and his 2020 class did at Zane Trace will live on for quite some time.
“My freshman year, we didn’t win many games and were one of the teams that everyone looked at as an easy win in the conference,” Evans said. “My junior and senior seasons, we really ran the league which no one was expecting. We changed the culture to a winning culture and I think the legacy that we left is Zane Trace is a winning program and we always want to try to be the best that we can be.”
