SARNIA – No tariffs on this cross-border agreement, only buckets.
Wing Kadin Cantrell has officially committed to Head Coach James Grant and the Lambton Men’s Basketball Program for the 2025-26 season, and beyond.
Cantrell is the fifth member of the 2025 recruiting class for Grant and the rest of his coaching staff. Cantrell will join the likes of Blake Redfern (Mitchell, Ont.), Liam Tosh (Brantford, Ont.), Traivon Hayes (Brantford, Ont.), and Billy Van Boxtel (London, Ont.) as a newcomer in a Lambton uniform when September comes around.
“It’s been a real blessing, I’m not going to lie,” said Cantrell after signing his OCAA Letter of Intent inside the Cestar Group Athletics & Fitness Complex. “It felt like home as soon as I came here.”
“I’ve been welcomed here since the start. The place is beautiful, the coaches are wonderful, and everyone has been so welcoming. It was an easy decision, to be honest, and making it officially official is just really filling my heart.”
Cantrell, a six-foot-six wing, comes to Lambton College by way of Port Huron, Michigan. He currently attends Port Huron Northern High School, where he played for the Huskies Boys’ basketball team.
This past season, Cantrell was an Honourable Mention for the MAC-Red All-Star Teams along with teammate Tyrese Johnson.
The commitment of Cantrell is one that comes with a bit of history for the Lambton Men’s Basketball Program. While the program has had its share of American student-athletes on the roster over the years, Cantrell is the first American student-athlete to commit to the program directly from high school.
For Coach Grant, he is excited about the potential that Cantrell brings to the roster moving ahead while helping to restart the international recruiting cycle for the program.
“We were at a point as a program that we were looking to have a fresh start with our international roster spots,” said Grant. “We took some time to check out a lot of American game film, and Kadin stood out right away.”
“He does all the little things right, rebounds well, and when given the opportunity, he has shown he can shoot the ball. We knew right away that he’d be a good fit for what we are building here at Lambton, and we are very excited that he chose to come our way as our first non-Canadian signing.”
While he has now officially committed to play basketball at the collegiate level, basketball wasn’t an early love for Cantrell growing up. He didn’t begin playing the sport until the sixth grade. Cantrell played his share of football growing up, primarily lining up as a wide receiver, but he was also a quarterback during his sophomore year of high school.
Even with his late start in basketball, the game has been his focus for some time now and the hard work has evidently paid off. Now, Cantrell is ready to step on campus as a student-athlete in September and do whatever he can to help the program be successful.
“I want to come here and just be another support to the program and help us win games,” added Cantrell. “I’m a real big energy player, diving for loose balls … I’m all over the place. I can shoot, that’s the main thing that I’m known for on offense.”
“Basketball has been my passion for a while now, and coming here, all the teammates have shown me what I have to do to step up and I’m going to have to come in here and work my butt off. But, this what I signed for so I’m ready.”
Academically, Cantrell will be enrolled in the Electrical Techniques program at Lambton College.
On top of playing basketball and helping the program be successful, Cantrell is also focused on the academic side of being a student-athlete. Learning how to become an electrician has been a goal of his away from basketball, giving him a viable backup plan after basketball.
Still, Cantrell’s focus is to take basketball by the hand and take it as far as he can. His goal is to play professionally once his collegiate career is over, more specifically in Europe. There have been a handful of Lambton alum that have gone on to play professionally overseas and around the World in recent years, most recently Jason Watts and Denes Hegedus.
Cantrell’s dream destination is to play in Italy.
The Lambton Men’s Basketball Program is coming off another trip to the OCAA Quarterfinals in 2024-25 after boasting a roster that featured 11 first-year and six second-year players. Despite their youth, the Lion were the only road team to win their opening round game, knocking off Seneca by six, 64-58.
Now, the Lions have their sights set on bigger things in 2025-26. With another year of experience under their belts, the Lions are looking to continue their climb in the OCAA West Division and make a return to the podium. With Cantrell and his versatility added to an already-talented recruiting class, things are looking bright for the future of the program.
Welcome to The Den, Kadin!
For more information, or for any media inquiries within Lambton College Athletics, please contact:
Tyler Bennett
Lambton College Sports Information & Marketing Coordinator
tyler.bennett@lambtoncollege.ca