CENTRAL Arkansas forward Elias Cato is having a career year in his senior season of NCAA hoops. The Queensland product is averaging 15.3 points and grabbing 5.3 rebounds in a career high 30 minutes per game.
The fourth year Bears player has worked his way further into the rotation of his side. For the first three years of his college career, he played under head coach Anthony Boone and played 8, 19 and 29 minutes per game. He showed promise and improvement in each of those seasons, increasing his three-point percentage from seven per cent in his rookie year, to 23.5 per cent in his sophomore season, and finally became a knockdown shooter from the perimeter in 2023-24 shooting 42 per cent from beyond the arc.
After some disappointing results across Cato’s three years at Central Arkansas, it was seen fit that a coaching change be made and former Alabama-Huntsville head coach John Shulman took the reins for the current season. Though the Bears have still struggled to this point in 2024-25, Shulman has trusted Cato, starting him in every game. Until his fourth season Cato had not started more than 20 games and has already done so in 19 this year.
Cato has had some impressive performances over the first three months of the NCAA fixture, including eclipsing the 20-point mark in six outings. Despite it being the second of a run of four straight losses, against the Florida Gulf Coast Eagles Cato poured in 29 points to go with six rebounds and knocked down five threes. Earlier in the year against Southwestern Christian he posted a double-double, going for 22 points, 11 rebounds and blocking three shots as well.
Central Arkansas failed to qualify for postseason tournaments in Cato’s second and third seasons, but in his first year as a rookie they finished 11-20, good enough for third in the western conference of the ASUN standings. They triumphed by a single point over Stetson in the opening game of the postseason, advancing to the quarterfinals where they ultimately fell to Jacksonville by 10 points.
This season the Bears began in non-conference play and finished 4-9, before moving back to ASUN conference play. Results have not gone their way so far, having just beaten Bellarmine and sitting 1-5, good enough for 10th in the ASUN standings. Cato is second on the team for scoring and leads the team in rebounds, which, at just 5.3 per game, lends itself to the struggles of his side. With no typical centre on the roster, Cato at six-foot-seven has had to shoulder plenty of the brunt of the defensive load and has done a commendable job.
With 12 games left of Cato’s regular season college eligibility, he will be hoping the rest of his team can rose to the level of his impressive play and turn their season around to taste some more postseason success before his college career dwindles to a close.