<p>By TOMMY REZAC</p><p><i>St. Joseph Post</i></p><p>The Missouri Western men's basketball team has picked up a pair of transfers, including one from the Division I ranks.</p><p>Samford forward Luke Champion and Catawba (N.C.) forward Anthony Peacock both announced on Twitter Monday that they'll play for coach Will Martin and the Griffons in the 2021-22 season.</p><p>Champion, a 6-foot-8 forward, comes from the Division-I program Samford out of Birmingham, Alabama. A Georgia native, he was a top-25 recruit in his home state out of high school, playing six games at Samford as a freshman this past season. He scored a season-high eight points against Belhaven.</p><p>Champion will have four years of eligibility left.</p><p>Peacock, a 6-foot-8 forward from Braintree, Massachusetts, will have two years of eligibility remaining. After averaging 21 points and 14 rebounds in high school, he played at Division I Hartford College, averaging five points and five rebounds per game before transferring to Quincy CC, where he averaged 23.7 points and 14.6 rebounds per contest while shooting a remarkable 72 percent from the field.</p><p>Peacock battled injuries last year at Division-II Catawba in North Carolina, averaging five points and 2.5 rebounds in 11 games.</p><p>Missouri Western has a strong amount of talent returning to the court for next year, including Will Eames, Q Mays, Caleb Bennett and Reese Glover - all of whom have starting experience.</p><p>In all, the Griffons return six of their top eight scorers from this past season, but <a href="https://stjosephpost.com/posts/670c4d82-25d8-4393-b122-bc78f9d7baed\">top scorer Tyrell Carroll</a> announced earlier this month his intentions to enter the NCAA transfer portal.</p><p>Junior Tyree Martin, who averaged 2.9 points and 3.0 rebounds per game this past season, is also transferring from Missouri Western.</p><div><blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-partner="tweetdeck"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Griff Up🤙🏽🐯 <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/5eva?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#5eva</a> <a href="https://t.co/hhYwhc1kOn">pic.twitter.com/hhYwhc1kOn</a></p>&mdash; Anthony Peacock (@AP_2Three) <a href="https://twitter.com/AP_2Three/status/1386727265736839181?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">April 26, 2021</a></blockquote>
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</div><div><blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-partner="tweetdeck"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Thank you to all the schools that reached out to me during my transfer process, but I’m excited to announce that I’ve committed to play for Coach Will Martin and Missouri Western <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/GriffUp?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#GriffUp</a> <a href="https://t.co/HyQ4t8Yms9">pic.twitter.com/HyQ4t8Yms9</a></p>&mdash; Luke Champion (@lukechampion31) <a href="https://twitter.com/lukechampion31/status/1386722680775270406?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">April 26, 2021</a></blockquote>
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</div><p><i>You can follow Tommy on Twitter @TommyKFEQ and St. Joseph Post @StJosephPost.</i></p>

Missouri Western men's basketball adds a pair of transfers Monday