Starkey

SHEPHERDSTOWN — Antoine Makle teamed with fellow Shepherd scorer Mark Palmer to give the free-flowing Rams offense a combustible scoring twosome that still holds some of the all-time records at the school, and in the now-gone West Virginia Intercollegiate Athletic Conference.

Makle glided his way to 2,573 career points in his four years of inking the school and conference record books.

While performing his scoring antics at Shepherd from 1981 through 1984, Makle can still claim the most-ever points counted by any freshman at the school. He totaled 638 points and averaged 23.6 ppg as a first-year Ram under the offensive-minded tutelage of Bob Starkey.

His four-year career scoring average was 23.4, and he averaged at least 22 points per game in all four of his Shepherd seasons. Starkey’s Rams won at least 21 games in three of Makle’s four seasons.

Shepherd had noted winning streaks of 11 games and nine games during Makle’s career.

The 2,573 point hilltop is the second-most career points at Shepherd, behind only Dave Russell.

So impressive was Makle to those around the WVIAC that had constant troubles trying to limit his production, that he was honored with three first-team All-WVIAC selections. The 638 points Makle notched as a freshman were the most by any first-year player in league history.

Shepherd reeled off a combined 64-23 record in Makle’s last three seasons as a budding Sara Cree Hall legend.

As consistent as he was a generous scorer, Makle counted seasons from his beginning that had point totals of 638, 662, 695 and 578. His highest scoring average was the 24.0 ppg he completed his career with as a senior.

There were 110 games in his career and his record against league dynamo Fairmont State University turned out to be 3-3 overall.

The Shepherd school record for most career field goals is 1,133, and it belongs to Makle, the 6-foot-2 record-setter from Calvert County in southern Maryland.

For his acclaimed college career, he was inducted into the Shepherd Athletic Hall of Fame, without much need for discussion after his name was brought before that organization’s committee.

Makle didn’t need a ton of shots to achieve his mountain tops. He is also among the school career leaders in assists and rebounds.

His entire career was spent in Sara Cree Hall, and the seat-starved gym was crammed with fans nearly every time the Rams played there.

Three first-team all-conference selections show how his contributions were evaluated around the WVIAC.

Conference coaches were counting the days before he might be gone after his sterling play as a freshman. And then Shepherd achieved 64 more wins in the next three seasons against them.