Keith guard John Pettway committed to South Alabama Wednesday evening.

The senior said he wanted to play for an in-state school that offered a degree in engineering and the Jaguars were the perfect fit.

“It is one of the top engineering schools in the state, plus they have a great basketball program and a great staff where I can grow as a basketball player and a person,” Pettway said.

He can’t officially sign until April, but he said he’s ready for it to become official.

“I wish it was yesterday. I’m ready to be a Jaguar and get on with the rest of my life,” Pettway said.

Pettway is the leading scorer on a Keith basketball team that is ranked No. 3 in class 1A by the Alabama Sports Writers Association. On Thursday night, he scored a career high 45 points in Keith’s double overtime loss to Bibb County.

His first cousins — senior girls basketball players Harriet Winchester and Zykia Pettway — may also both be playing Division I basketball next year.

Winchester will be at Troy, where she has already signed. The senior guard was named a finalist for 1A player of the year last season and was MVP of the class 1A state tournament during Keith’s championship run. When she first signed in November, she didn’t want to discuss it much because she hadn’t qualified yet. Since then, Winchester retook the ACT and made the needed score to officially become a Trojan.

“I didn’t want to tell everybody that I signed if I wasn’t able to go,” Winchester said.

She said when she retook the ACT and got the needed score, she felt like a huge weight was lifted off of her shoulders.

“I knew I had made it and all the work had paid off,” Winchester said.

Zykia has an offer from Stillman and is trying to figure out what she wants to do. She also said she has an offer from Wallace Community College Selma.

“I’m trying to decide if I’m ready to leave home, how far I’m ready to go and [decide] whether my mother is going to be able to come see me play,” Zykia said.

She hopes to have a decision made by the end of next month. Zykia said Thursday she is leaning toward going to Stillman.

Zykia was named to the 1A girls’ all-tournament team when Keith won the 1A state championship last year.