Super Cooper: Sterlington’s Nelson is much more than school’s leading scorer
by William Weathers // GeauxPreps.com Contributor
In 36 years of coaching, the canvas Sterlington’s Paul Glynn uses for his portrait of standout senior guard Cooper Nelson resembles a collage of some of the greatest point guards the game has produced over the past six decades.
Some of the traits the 5-foot-9 Nelson has wowed the northeast corner of the state have sent Glynn reminiscing during his own coaching journey, that have included stops in Kentucky, Arkansas, and the last six at Sterlington. The passion and scoring of former LSU All-American Pete Maravich a good reference point, to the All-America career of point guard Chris Corchiani of North Carolina State’s Chris Corchiani, to the flair of NBA point guard Jason “White Chocolate” Williams, first at Florida and later for four teams in the NBA.
“If you saw Cooper in the fifth, sixth, and seventh grade,” Glynn said, “he had a ball in his hands, kind of like Pete Maravich. That was his passion, which you don’t quite see as much anymore. He’s got that buttoned-up look of Steve Alford (former national champion and career leading scorer at the University of Indiana). He’s got some of the ruggedness of Corchiani and sometimes the glory you-can’t-teach-it moments of Jason Williams. A little bit of that flash comes out. We knew we had something special.”
The flash in transition, resulting in no-look passes to teammates for a basket, is textbook Maravich and has been among the tools Nelson has used. His quickness and instincts destroy man-to-man defenses, and he’s able to physical drives and play thought contract – indicative of either Corchiani or Williams, plus three of his own favorites – Steve Nash, John Stockton, and Damian Lillard.
Another of the players he looks up to – Stephen Curry – may be the only logical choice when it comes to describing the depth of Nelson’s shooting range from the field.
“I try and take bits and pieces of people’s games and add it to my game and become the best player that I could possibly be,” Nelson said. “I’ve read multiple books on (former Boston Celtic great) Larry Bird and Pete Maravich, their work ethic, how they grew up.
“I’ve read about (19-year NBA great) Steve Nash and John Stockton (another former 19-year NBA standout) about how they ran an offense, set people up, and were facilitators that got their teammates involved,” Nelson said. “I saw the shot-making of Steph Curry and the charisma of Damian Lillard.”
Nelson has gravitated toward certain areas to become the best version of himself. Through 120 games of his career, which began as a freshman, he’s the school’s career leader in points with 2,651 points – an achievement he reached last month.
Watching Sterlington’s home games requires patience. There are usually long lines of interested onlookers waiting to see Nelson in person. The school’s ardent student section shows up early and is appreciative of having watched the career of the school’s best player unfold toward its conclusion.
Sterlington (16-5, 0-1 in district) is back at home Wednesday at 7 p.m. for a District 1-3A contest against Bastrop. The Panthers have five home games remaining in the regular season before the start of the Division II non-select state playoffs.
“It’s packed,” play-by-play announcer Phillip Thigpen of K104-FM radio said of Sterlington home games.
“Fans are holding signs up. After the game, they’re standing and hanging around (waiting for Nelson). There are people who are not part of the school. It’s the community people who appreciate him.
“He’s down to the earth,” Thigpen said. “He’s fun to watch. He plays hard and competes. He goes against bigger guys and whips them. He’s just fun to watch.”
Nelson excelled in three sports – playing football, basketball, and baseball – until he reached Sterlington High.
His father, Ryan, was a three-sport standout at Ouachita, where he was valedictorian, and went on to play baseball at Louisiana Tech, while his mother, Johnna, was a cheerleader at LSU.
“He kind of laid the blueprint,” Nelson said. “I have great genetics. I have great parents who have been awesome role models as well.”
The younger Nelson was an important member of his middle school’s undefeated football team, where he thrived at running back. He also ventured into cross country and track, but truly thrived in basketball and baseball, where he was part of Ben Sheets’ travel teams.
“He was a big part of my development,” Nelson said of Sheets, a former MLB pitcher with the Milwaukee Brewers. “We traveled the country playing basketball and baseball with him.”
Glynn recalled watching Nelson play basketball in middle school, where he once swished a three-quarter-court shot and was fouled for a four-point play.
“He and Miller (Sterlington’s Miller Sheets, who is signed to play baseball at Baylor) traveled, and people were enamored with Cooper as far back as the fifth grade,” Glynn said. “He has been middle school student of the year. Whatever he does, he does it well. That passion slid over to basketball. We saw this coming at the fifth-grade level.”
Basketball became the sport of choice when Nelson entered high school. The thought of becoming the best in one sport appealed to such a multi-talented athlete.
“We decided I would cut it down to basketball,” he said. “I had a big year as a freshman and realized if I wanted to go as far as I could, I would focus year-round on basketball. I went from the high school season to AAU (Shreveport’s O.W.E travel team), and I credit coach Vic Morris (of Calvary Baptist) with a lot of my development. I had certain goals I wanted to achieve in high school and felt the best thing was to completely focus on that.”
Said Glynn: “He’s athletic enough to do anything. Basketball just grabbed his heart.”
Before the start of his high school career, Nelson often wondered what it would be like to play on the varsity team. He attended Sterlington’s home game as an eighth grader and visualized being on the court and helping the Panthers.
“I had to wait my turn,” he said. “I was excited to get out there and play and prove that I could play at the varsity level. I remember as a freshman really getting after it, being thankful for just being on the court.”
Before his first season, Nelson thought back to the conversations he had with his father, trying to project his level of success. He thought landing a starting position as a freshman would put him on a trajectory to score 1,000 career points, and his name would hang on a banner in the school’s gymnasium.
“I’ve always had extremely high expectations for myself, and my parents do as well,” he said. “To be able to exceed those expectations is truly a blessing.”
The structure of Sterlington’s team in 2022-23 was ideal for Nelson’s first season. With six seniors, good size, and depth, Nelson was able to develop at his own pace.
Sterlington went 24-9 and lost in the first round of the state playoffs to Red River.
“Even as accomplished as he was, you’re still finding a niche,” Glynn said of Nelson. “He was very submissive to those juniors and seniors. His role was to do what the team needed, and that was just to be a point guard.”
Nelson was the team’s leading scorer with a 13.4 average, made 49% of his shots, and 45% from 3-point land. He also led the team in steals (90) and was second in assists (92).
“We had great leadership, and they were always great mentors to me,” Nelson said of the team’s seniors. “Coach said I was deferring to other guys. They also had the confidence, as well as the coaching staff, to breathe confidence in me. That let me know I could make a big shot or take over a game.
“That’s one of the things that helped me become a better player,” Nelson said. “That mindset, being confident, the work I put in, and not getting down on myself if I made a mistake. It’s allowed me to take the next steps in my game as a sophomore and junior years.”
With the loss of the big senior class, Nelson increased his scoring average to 22.7 points, and along with Khristian Johnson (12.9) was one of the team’s two double-digit scorers. He was tops again in assists (99) and second to Johnson in rebounds (144), steals (69), and blocked shots (30).
Nelson, who scored 1,168 career points at that juncture, was also a 50% shooter from the field, 41% from 3-point range, and 90% at the free throw line. He earned the first of his three all-district honors and was also chosen to the Louisiana Sports Writers Association’s honorable mention Class 3A All-State team.
The Panthers wound up 18-12, advancing to the Division III non-select regionals against French Settlement.
“That was kind of a disappointing end to the season,” said Nelson, who scored a career-high 43 points against Neville on Dec. 21, 2023. “We were looking to make a deeper run, which I think we were destined to do. The expectations around here aren’t just to win one playoff game. These other sports (football, baseball, softball) are winning state championships.
“That’s kind of put some pressure on us to keep up with all of the expectations of the fans in town,” Nelson said. “I have a lot of friends on the football and baseball teams, and watching them succeed definitely motivates me. Hopefully, we can do something similar this year.”
The relative inexperience of last year’s team, with two of three senior starters back, opened the door for Nelson to truly become the face of the program.
With the Panthers grappling to find consistency, having to overcome a pair of three-game losing streaks and a four-game skid, Nelson was never better. He averaged nearly half of his team’s 60 points with a career-high 27 points per game, reaching double figures in all 32 of his team’s games.
Nelson also led the team in rebounds (153), assists (146), and steals (75), and was second in blocked shots (12). His 863 points increased his career total to 2,031. He shot 44% from the field, 36% from 3-point range with 107 3s, and was 80% from the free-throw line.
Sterlington (14-18) lost in the first round of the playoffs to Franklinton, and Nelson was voted to the LSWA’s Class 3A All-State second team.
“I heard people talking, comments from people that don’t really watch the game that well,” Nelson said. “If Cooper doesn’t score, they can’t win. If Cooper has a big game, they’ll win. We had a game where I scored 13, and we won. Last year, I had several games of 40 points, and we lost. It doesn’t all go through me.
“It takes a complete team effort,” Nelson said. “If the rest of the guys aren’t playing well, we probably won’t win. If I don’t play well, and the other guys are playing at the tops of their game, we’ll win the game. It’s completely a team game, and I’m always going to do whatever I can to win. I know the other guys are too.”
Opponents didn’t treat Nelson the same after his freshman season. He began receiving the kind of defensive attention reserved for upperclassmen who can’t be stopped by man-to-man defenses or slowed by zone defenses.
Glynn said Ouachita Christian went to the extreme of naming one of its defenses “Mav” from the 1986 movie Top Gun, a nod to star Tom Cruise’s lead character Maverick.
“He’s kind of got that brashness about him that you kind of like,” Glynn said of Nelson.
The two teams have met in the summer league and in the first two years of Nelson’s career, Sterlington defeated OCS, 58-28, and 58-55.
Nelson welcomed the additional attention of box-in-one looks, triangle-in-two alignments meant to not only stunt his production but also try to take him out of a game mentally.
“We’ve seen double teams, face guarding, and full deny,” Nelson said. “We’ve seen triple teams and some wacky defenses to try and get me off my rhythm and force other guys to make plays. I have full confidence in the guys to make the right plays. I had 13 once (West Ouachita), and a team was playing a 1-3-1 (zone) and helping off to me, trapping the ball. We scored 70 and won (75-52).
“A lot of guys that get double-teamed just give up and think they’re not going to score that game, that they can’t affect the game,” Nelson said. “Those are games that push me to that second gear, where I ramp up my defense and rebounding. I try and get out in transition. They can’t set up in that box-in-one if I’m in transition. I can get layups or create shots for my teammates. It opens up a whole different side of my game when teams do that.
For Nelson, creating a high school legacy isn’t confined to just the basketball court. That pursuit of excellence extends to the classroom, where the school’s scoring leader is a candidate to become his class valedictorian, just like dad.
“Basketball’s a huge part of my life,” he said. “There’s so much more to life than sports. Basketball’s taught me a lot of things, always striving for greatness, striving for perfection, although we may never reach it. Just striving to be the best version of myself, and that leads to other areas of my life. Being a great son to my parents, pushing myself to be a great classmate, great friend, and just push myself to be better and continue improving.”
Nelson has a better than 4.0 grade point average with an ACT score of 30, near his scoring average. The first ‘B’ of his career came last year in an honors pre-calculus class.
“Being a student comes first,” he said. “That’s something I valued along with my parents as well.”
Glynn said of Nelson: “He’s grounded in his faith and is a very strong Christian.”
The more his basketball profile grew, matching his all-around abilities, Nelson remained even-keeled, choosing to fit in with his teammates instead of grabbing a hold of the star attached to his game.
He never allowed his status as Sterlington’s leading scorer, where he’s reached double figures 105 times and has enjoyed 25 games with 30-plus points, to overshadow the relationship he’s enjoyed with his teammates.
Nelson’s work ethic has also included additional conditioning to handle the heavy minutes played, and his work in the weight room – 260-pound bench, 545-pound squat – remains a hallmark of his success.
“This group of guys, especially this year, doesn’t have any big egos and have all bought into doing whatever it takes to win, and our record reflects that,” Nelson said. “They’ve been around me for the last four years. They’ve seen the work I’ve put in, the time and effort that goes into becoming the best player that I can be. They also trust me to make big plays in the big moments.”
Nelson’s part of a six-member senior class that plays as one, Glynn said.
“They’ve played countless hours of basketball together,” he said. “They have wonderful chemistry, and they realize he’s (Nelson) going to get his. They realize where they can help the team, whether it’s screening or rebounding. The number two or three kid scoring wise is never typically the same guy. This team has had a different vibe to it. This has been really fun from the standpoint that they really care for each other.
“One of our team philosophies is that we want to be feared but respected,” he said. “He’s (Nelson) that guy. I don’t think there’s any animosity with any team that we play. In fact, it’s a lot of respect for him, and that’s kind of rare these days. Some get a little bitter of people being put up on a pedestal.”
Glynn went back nearly five decades to provide Nelson with a resource to help deal with the notoriety attached to being such a prolific scorer and the expectations that follow.
He swung open the door to former Marion High All-American Bobby Joe Douglas, who spent a decade as an assistant at Sterlington under Kevin Caballero, to spend time talking to the team and, in particular, to Nelson.
“He does kind of mentor him,” Glynn said of Douglas, a 2020 inductee into the LHSAA Hall of Fame. “If you have an outing that’s in their mind kind of pedestrian, but yet you scored 15 with eight rebounds, a lot of kids would want that. That may be half of his (Nelson) totals. That’s a tough wagon to pull.”
Douglas, a 5-9 dynamo, rose to fame during his senior season in 1980 at the Union Parish Class C school, averaging a national record 54 points a game in his final season. He would up with 2,052 points in 38 games that season and had 4,070 overall without the benefit of a 3-point line.
Despite his scoring prowess, Douglas, who played collegiately at then Northeast Louisiana (now UL-Monroe), his high school teams never reached the state championship game – a stretch dominated by three-time state champion Summerfield and Karl Malone.
“He kind of went through some of the same stuff our team’s gone through, having a prominent scorer that takes the bulk of the shots like I do for our team,” Nelson said. “He was one of the legends of Louisiana high school basketball. It was cool listening to him and everybody buying into their role. Not getting caught up in who’s scoring the points and just focusing on what’s needed for the team to win.
“He’s mentored me, given me tips on keeping my confidence up,” Nelson said. “When you have the ball in your hand as much as I do, and take as many shots as I do, you’re bound to make mistakes or even lose a game every now and then. That’s part of helping to carry the load.”
Sterlington won four of its first five games to open the season before dropping a pair of teams from Kentucky. The Panthers returned home with a 70-46 triumph over Delhi, where Nelson scored 28, and Tyler Nordan had 20.
A week later, the stage was set for a Dec. 16 home game with West Ouachita for Nelson to become the school’s all-time leading scorer, where Matt Allred’s mark stood since 2013.
Nelson tied Allred’s record with a pair of free throws and was sent to the line once again at the 4:19 mark of the second quarter when he was fouled on a drive to the goal.
He swished his first attempt for the record 2,255th point, resulting in a timeout from Glynn to allow Nelson to soak in the moment. The capacity crowd rose to its feet in approval before Nelson returned for a successful free throw.
“When he got the record, they went crazy,” said Thigpen, who called the game that evening. “After the game, they just hung around. He was our guest on our postgame show, and we were trying to stall long enough waiting for him. He’s a celebrity, and the crowds was extra special excited for him that night.”
Nelson, who scored 12 points along with Caisen Reeves in the 62-31 victory, was thankful for the role the adoring crowd played.
“We have the best student section in Northeast Louisiana,” he said. “Just a great community at Sterlington where the other teams support us. It was an amazing moment; one I didn’t think would happen, but I’m truly thankful for it. I’m thankful for my family, coaches, and teammates for supporting me along the way.
“When coach calls timeouts like that, those are moments he values, and I’ll be able to cherish and share with my kids one day,” he said. “To be able to break the all-time scoring record was a surreal moment.”
Thigpen said it in typical Nelson fashion; he thanked the radio broadcast crew for providing coverage of the game.
“We’re packing up after the game, and he walks up and thanks us for coming,” he said. “I couldn’t think of any other players that had done that. He’s very humble, appreciative. He’s a gym rat, but not arrogant. He’s the best player in this area and is still hungry. He just loves to play.”
Sterlington’s gone 11-4 since Nelson’s record-breaking game, including a pair of one-point losses to West Monroe and Madison, which won its first 20 games until losing to East Iberville on Jan. 19.
Nelson averaged 26.4 points during that stretch with a high of 39 in a 66-58 win over Richwood. He averages 27 points with 7.0 rebounds and 5.8 assists.
“It’s been a great start to the season,” Nelson said. “Leading up to the season, we knew this team had a different feeling and has gelled very well. There’s a lot of great team chemistry, I think, better than the last two or three years. We were all kind of expecting more this year. We’re proud of this start and looking to continue it and finish out the year strong.”
Nelson’s well-rounded game includes 563 rebounds (4.7 average) and 471 assists (3.9 average). He’s made 48% of his field goals (911 of 1,909), 36% of his 3-point attempts (276 of 758), and 84% (553 of 661) of his free throws.
Glynn has understood the obsessive nature Nelson has exhibited. He recognizes the desire of Nelson wanting to go outside to shoot on his own goal that’s illuminated by light; yet call him later the same evening for a key to Sterlington’s gym.
“He’ll ask what I’m doing,” Glynn said. “I told him nothing, it’s 9 p.m. He’ll say he didn’t shoot well and asks me to open the gym. He’ll get on the (shooting) gun and next thing you know it’s 500-600 shots later.”
The ultimate payoff for Nelson is to play basketball for a college that will also challenge him academically. He’s received eight scholarship offers ranging from Chattahoochee Valley College (Ala.), Copiah-Lincoln (Miss.) Community, Hill Community College (Tex.), LSU-Shreveport, Millsaps College (Miss.), Southwest Christian College (Tex.), and Texas A&M-Texarkana.
Nelson’s taken heed of Glynn’s advice. He’s agreed to let his body of work speak for itself, allowing his recruiting process to play out before rendering a decision.
“We’re trying to go as far as we can with Sterlington’s season,” he said. “I’m completely focused on my senior season, put up the best numbers I can to help my team win as many games as possible. Once my senior season is over, I can really focus on more than just basketball. I want a school with great academics and has what I want to major in. I’m thankful for the schools that have already reached out. I think God has a plan for me and I’ll end up exactly where I need to be.”
Glynn reminded Nelson to trust in his game, and it will lead him to the destination he’s supposed to be.
“I’ve had some great point guards,” he said, “but he’s the most complete guard I’ve had in my career.”