Jay Daubenberger
Liberal, Kansas – Following one season with the Seward County Saints, freshman Malakye Cunningham has decided to continue the rest of his collegiate journey at the four-year level after signing with Colorado Mesa University for the 2024-25 season.
Despite an injury riddled season that saw Cunningham appear in only eight games on the 2023-24 campaign, he averaged 3.8 points, 1.5 rebounds, and 1.6 assists per game as a true freshman. The Australian native cashed in a three in seven of his eight games on the floor for the Saints and scored a career high of 6 points on the road against #11 Butler with a pair of 5-point games against Cowley and Coffeyville before ending his first year at the college level on December 14th against Indian Hills.
Cunningham will be heading to one of the top teams at the Division II level a season ago in Colorado Mesa who finished the 2023-24 season ranked at number 6 in the country. The Mavericks finished their season with a 29-5 overall record while going 21-1 in conference action. Colorado Mesa took down a pair of top 25 opponents in the regular season in #8 MSU Denver and #21 Colorado School of Mines before advancing to the South Central Regional Championship game in the NCAA DII National Tournament.
Cunningham is now one of three players from Seward County to sign on to the four-year level as he joins teammates Blessin Kimble (New Mexico Highlands) and Nathan Jones (Western New Mexico) who will also make the move to the Division II level.