Former Kearney High standout Kanon Koster transferring from South Dakota to Saint Leo

KEARNEY, NE — A former Nebraska high school basketball star is continuing his college career at a new school.

Kanon Koster of Kearney announced on Friday that he is transferring to Saint Leo University to continue playing basketball and start work on his Master’s Degree. Koster spent the past three seasons at South Dakota and announced he was leaving the Coyotes on March 14th.

Saint Leo is liberal arts school in St. Leo, Florida, which is about 30 miles north of Tampa. The Lions compete in the Sunshine State Conference in Division ll. Saint Leo finished this season 12-15 but won the conference title the previous season.

Koster started his college career at Nebraska-Kearney where he lead the Lopers with 16.5 points per game and earned honorable mention all-conference honors as a freshman. Then, he transferred to South Dakota and sat out a redshirt season. He played in 20 games during the 2020-21 season and made one start. The 6-foot-4 guard played in 13 games this season and averaged 2 points per game.

Koster was a first-team all-state player in both basketball and football at Kearney High. He averaged 22.6 points per game as a senior and is the Bearcats’ all-time leading scorer.

While at UNK, Koster played against his new head coach’s former team. Lance Randall has led Saint Leo for three seasons but was the head coach of former MIAA school Lindenwood during Koster’s freshman season.

Koster chose Saint Leo over Embry Riddle, Emporia State, Minnesota-Duluth, Rockhurst and Southern Nazarene.