T-R PHOTO BY NOAH ROHLFING - Recent Marshalltown High School graduate Armonniey Thomas, seated center, signed his National Letter of Intent to play basketball at Iowa Central Community College in Fort Dodge. Thomas was joined for his signing ceremony by his father Earl, seated at right, his girlfriend Caitlin Traylor, seated left, and Marshalltown High School boys basketball coach Michael Appel.

Wednesday’s moment was a long time coming for Marshalltown ’22 graduate Armonniey Thomas.

The boys’ basketball star and now two-time Times-Republican All-Area Player of the Year, Thomas finally decided on and announced his future basketball home on Wednesday, signing for the Iowa Central Community College Tritons.

A junior college in the same athletic conference as Marshalltown Community College (the Iowa Community College Athletic Conference, for ICCAC), the Tritons are coming off of a 14-18 season in 2021-22. Iowa Central is led by head coach Chad Helle, who will be in his fourth season as head coach in 2022-23.

Thomas said he was glad to have his plans finalized, and sounded ready for the next step in his basketball journey.

“I feel pretty good, feel confident with the decision,” Thomas said. “It’s going to be tough, it’s going to be a rough start but that’s how it always is. That’s how it was when I came here and went straight up to varsity.”

Thomas recently ended his high school career by putting his name in the Marshalltown record books, closing his career with 1,465 career points, easily clearing Chanse Creekmur for the most in Bobcat boys’ basketball history. Averaging 21.8 points per game as a senior on 49 percent shooting from the floor and a 32 percent clip from 3-point range, Thomas added 5.6 rebounds, four assists and two steals per game as he guided the Bobcats to the second round of the postseason.

This was a big improvement on a junior year in which he scored 16.6 points per game and grabbed 7.7 rebounds per contest. In his sophomore season, he averaged 19.3 points as he took the reins as Marshalltown’s No. 1 scoring option.

Making progress as both a scorer and a facilitator over the past three seasons has been critical for Thomas and for the Bobcats, head coach Michael Appel said.

“Skill-level wise I have no doubt that he can play there, I think he can make an immediate impact,” Appel said. “It’s just about showing that every single day and competing in practice and doing those things every day, the things we’ve tried to instill in him during his four years at Marshalltown.”

As for his academic plan, Thomas said the goal is to take construction in his first year at Iowa Central and then take business in his second year of college.

It will be a big adjustment for Thomas, as it is with any athlete making the athletic leap from high school to college. There will be new schemes and coverages to learn, new teammates and workouts to get used to and new responsibilities. Thomas said he’s ready and excited to take on those challenges and make his case for potential post-JUCO teams.

“I don’t want this to be my last stop,” Thomas said. “I want to keep pushing and go on to a higher division. I know most people don’t want to start at a [JUCO] but it takes time and a process. You gotta have that heart to keep going and have that motivation to get up and practice, show out in games and make things happen.”

Taking the JUCO route has worked out for Marshalltown players before — notably, South Dakota State forward Luke Appel, who jumped from Kirkwood CC to the Jackrabbits ahead of the 2021-22 season and made the NCAA Tournament.

Michael Appel said the path is there for Thomas to have success.

“It’s always a great opportunity to do so,” Appel said. “We’ve had players in the past do that and have success, so we’re excited for Armonniey to do that and show his skills and do those things to help him move on with his education after community college or set him up with what he wants to do in his life.”