JOPLIN, Mo. — Wednesday afternoon, a local high school athlete made the decision to further his athletic career at the college level.

A ceremony was held for College Heights basketball player Curtis Davenport. He signed to play college basketball right down the road at Ozark Christian College.

In just 110 games, Davenport scored a total of 1,468 points over the course of his four years playing varsity. He earned All-District and All-Conference honors in his time as a cougar.

Davenport leaves behind a strong career at College Heights, but he’s ready for the next chapter in his life. He spoke on being able to play at the next level and why he chose Ozark Christian.

Curtis Davenport said, “The feeling is really exciting. I’ve definitely been working towards playing college basketball for a long time since I was about nine or ten years old. So, the feeling of finally being able to have the opportunity to live that out is very exciting and I’m really looking forward to being able to do that. Whenever I would have conversations with like Coach Lahm or Coach Harns or somebody else, it didn’t feel stressful or forced or anything like that. We were just talking about life, or basketball, or school or anything in general. The way they cared about me as a person was just really one of the main things that drew me to Ozark.”