Walters a major energy source for first-place Cal State Stanislaus

Rob Walters had played 70 minutes over two nights, scoring 36 points and grabbing 25 rebounds, yet at the end of Cal State Stanislaus’ 70-66 victory Saturday night over Humboldt State, he had something left to give.

At the final buzzer, after quickly going through the handshake line with the visiting Lumberjacks, Walters ran across the floor and bounded up the stands to the upper reaches of Fitzpatrick Arena, where he stayed long enough to shake hands with most of the members of the Pitman High pep band.

“That was a little thing I started doing to show my gratitude to the band, because I know how hard they work,” Walters said. “They treat their music like we treat our hoops. Once I did it for the first time, I couldn’t stop, so that’s going to be a thing I do after every game just to say thanks.”

The band, a fixture at Warriors’ games, adds an energetic dimension to what is becoming one of the best home courts in the California Collegiate Athletic Association.

As far as energy on the court is concerned, Walters takes care of that detail.

“He has a tremendous motor, and he plays that way in practice as well,” said coach Larry Reynolds. “He gets on the floor and dives for balls. He runs sprints hard and gives everything he has, every day.”

Walters’ performance in back-to-back wins last week earned him CCAA Player of the Week honors. More important is that the wins kept the Warriors (6-2 in the CCAA, 9-4 overall) tied for first place heading into this weekend’s home games.

Stanislaus meets Sonoma State (5-3, 8-4) tonight and San Francisco State (4-4, 6-6) Saturday at Fitzpatrick Arena. The Warrior women (1-7, 3-9) tip off the action both nights, playing those same schools at 5:30 p.m.

The energy shown by Walters resembles that of a young athlete striving to give his all while approaching the finish line of a long race, because for Walters that might be the best way to describe his college career.

A league MVP at Valley View High School in Riverside, Walters had two standout seasons at College of the Sequoias and was named first-team all-state as a sophomore. He parlayed that into a scholarship at Humboldt State, where he enrolled for the 2011 fall semester.

Four weeks into his stay in Arcata, he found out that five of his Sequoias academic units were not transferable, making him ineligible to play right away. He was disappointed in the news, but even more disappointed when he perceived he was being shunned by the program.

“A lot of things happened at Humboldt that changed my opinion of the school after I found out I couldn’t play,” Walters said. “I felt I got the cold shoulder from some people, but I loved the school and the people. It was a mess, but I’ve very happy I’m here now.”

He left Humboldt and essentially took a year off from basketball. Stanislaus became a safety net because so much about the program was familiar. His older brother, Marcus Walters, played at Stanislaus from 2011-13, and their father, Robert Walters Sr., was a college teammate of Reynolds at UC Riverside.

“I wanted to come here because I liked my time at Sequoias, and COS isn’t too far from here,” said Walters, who averages 9.0 points and 7.1 rebounds a game. “Turlock reminds me of Visalia in certain ways. I had to take a bunch of classes to get in, and it was rough. But I got one foot in the door here and took care of the rest.”

Student-athletes who bounce from one school to another often become major cogs at the Division II level, where transfer requirements are less stringent than at Division I. But tracking and wooing athletes who are in NCAA limbo can be difficult.

“It’s about knowing people who know people,” Reynolds said. “When you run into somebody, you ask where a certain kid ended up. You have to dig a little bit. Fortunately, Rob was in the Riverside area so I had an idea where he was. We got his brother here, so it was easy to keep track of Rob.”

Walters, one of just three Warriors to start every game this season, plays to his listed 6-7 height but might be closer to 6-5. Playing against taller foes almost every game, he was second in the CCAA in offensive rebounding and third overall in rebounding last year. He’s again third in overall rebounding in CCAA play this season.

“He is a little under the 6-7 they announce him as being,” Reynolds said with laugh. “He’s 6-4 or 6-5, but there are very few players who have his motor. If he’s not the best player in the league he’s one of the best.

“He’s always working on something and trying to improve and has turned himself into one of the best players in the conference.”

This story was originally published January 15, 2015 at 2:05 PM with the headline "Walters a major energy source for first-place Cal State Stanislaus."