By Jim O'Hara
 
ROME, Ga. – Their careers at Shorter University have been short ones. What they have gained from being there will last a lifetime.

When seniors Brandon Pullman and Steve Johnson take the court for the last time Saturday at 3 p.m. when the Hawks host Lee in a Gulf South Conference rivalry showdown at the Winthrop-King Centre, they will do so knowing that winning and losing pales in comparison to the life lessons learned.

"It's been a good experience. It's given me a new look on life," said Pullman, who has experienced both sides of playing a sport since he arrived at Shorter last year. "From the first time I came here, there was a certain feeling I had."

Yet the positive feelings Pullman has for Shorter has come during a period of time in his life when, as Charles Dickens penned, it was the best of times and the worst of times.

Last year the 6-foot-6 forward felt what it was like to win a national championship right away in his first season with the Hawks when Shorter captured the 2013 National Christian College Athletic Association national title and this season has experienced the down side of the game as his team (9-16 overall and 6-13 in the GSC) enters their regular-season finale.

"Some seasons are like this," said Pullman, who called Rock Island, Ill., home and transferred to Shorter after becoming a junior college All-American. "But we've had so many close games that could have easily gone our way.

"This is not how I envisioned it to end," Pullman acknowledged, "but I can walk away knowing I've learned so much. You learn to compete as hard as you can no matter what the situation is."

And competing hard is what Pullman has produced for the Hawks day after day, in practice and in games where he has averaged 14.6 points and 5.2 rebounds this season, and has one of the hottest shooting touches on the team as he hits 53 percent of his shots.

There is also little doubt that Pullman isn't about to end his time as a Hawk quietly, not by a longshot. In the last three games he has averaged 23 points, doing anything he can to help his team battle for a win.

"To see him finish so well makes me so proud of him," Hawks head coach Chad Warner said of Pullman. "He's so much more consistent as a player and as a leader."

"I knew I had to step up and be more of a role model and make sacrifices for the team," said Pullman.

Johnson knows all too well about adjusting to situation as the 6-8 forward from Miami, Fla., made the rare decision to transfer for his senior season from NCAA Division I Winthrop to Shorter, where his body, mind and soul has found a home.

"I don't regret anything," said Johnson, who as the season has progressed with radical changes in the makeup of the team taking place has been asked to do more. "Shorter opened their arms to me. It felt like a family. I was blessed to have this opportunity.

"We're a family," he added. "We do everything together and we fight for each other out there no matter what."

Johnson has been fighting for his team in all 25 games, and while averaging 4.3 points and 4.6 rebounds turned in two of his top outings of the year during Shorter's final road trip of the season when he had 14 points against West Florida and last Tuesday turned a double-double effort against West Georgia by scoring 10 points and pulling down 19 rebounds.

"We've depended a lot on both of them," Warner described the importance the two seniors have for the team. "I love both of these guys and I know they'll be successful."

They and their teammates are determined to be successful one final time this year, going up against a Lee squad (9-15, 5-13) that will come to Rome seeking to avenge a loss they had to Shorter a month again in Cleveland, Tenn.

"It's been a good lesson," Warner said about what the season has taught both players and coaches. "We've had a lot of near-misses, but like life it doesn't always go the way you want it to be.

"This is an opportunity," he said about the finale, "for all of them to get out there and play one more time."
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