St. John’s landed its only player of the fall signing period Wednesday when Ronald Roberts signed with the Red Storm.
Roberts is a 6-foot-7, 205-pound combo forward out of Bayonne, N.J. who plays at St. Peter’s Prep and for the Playaz Basketball Club. He chose the Johnnies over St. Joe’s.
“I signed to St. John’s today,” Roberts wrote by text. “I loved the coaches, the players, the atmosphere, the facilities and the campus. I had an offer from St. Joe’s but I wanted to fulfill my dream of playing in the Big East.”
Roberts led the Marauders in scoring (17.4 points per game), rebounding (11.0) and blocked shots (3.0) as a junior last season. He was selected as a first team all-county and all-league performer in 2008-09 for a Saint Peter’s squad that finished 23-3 as county champions and ranked seventh in the state.
“Ronald will be a great addition to our program. He is an outstanding young man who will give us versatility at the power forward and small forward positions,” said Johnnies coach Norm Roberts. “Ron has a great upside, and he comes from a terrific basketball family.”
St. John’s had previously tried and failed to land forwards Tobias Harris, Devon Collier and JayVaughn Pinkston. Harris will announce Thursday. Collier committed to Oregon State and Pinkston will wait until the spring.
JOSEPH CUTS LIST
Findlay Prep guard Cory Joseph has cut his list to five schools and won’t sign until the spring signing period.
“I cut it down to UConn, Texas, Villanova, Minnesota and UNLV,” Joseph wrote in a text.
He plans to visit UNLV the weekend of Dec. 11. The Rebels host Kansas State Dec. 12.
Joseph’s older brother, Devoe, is a sophomore guard at Minnesota.
Tristan Thompson, Joseph’s Findlay teammate and fellow Canadian, just signed with Texas, and Myck Kabongo, a junior guard at St. Benedict’s Prep also from Canada, has also verbally committed to play for head coach Rick Barnes.
The 6-foot-3, 180-pound Joseph had previously listed Florida and Mississippi State, but opted to take his fifth and final official to UNLV.
He is the No. 3 point guard in the Class of 2010.
FORDHAM HOSTING RECRUITS
Fordham snapped a 12-game losing streak to Sacred Heart Wednesdsay night with a 76-66 victory at Rose Hill Gym.
Chris Gaston, who played for both Bob and Dan Hurley at St. Anthony and St. Benedict’s, respectively, put up 22 points and 13 boards and former St. Anthony star Jio Fontan added 17 points and 7 assists. Brenton Butler scored 15 for the Rams (1-2) and Alberto Estwick, another former Bob Hurley product, added 12.
Fordham has hosted a bunch of stellar recruits in recent days. 6-5 senior guard Jayon James of Paterson Catholic, Sean Grennan, a 6-foot junior guard from Monsignor Donovan (N.J.), and 6-2 junior guard Xavier Munford of St. Benedict’s were at Wednesday’s game.
James; Paterson Catholic junior point guard Myles Mack; 6-7 PC sophomore guard Kyle Anderson; Jason Boswell, a 6-4 freshman wing from St. Patrick; Tiquan Goodlet, a 6-1 junior point guard from St. Anthony; Emmanuel Andujar, a 6-5 junior wing from Rice; Josh Gomez, a 6-9 junior post from Rice; and Theo Boyomo, a 6-9 senior from Kent (Conn.) School, were all at Fordham last Friday for the game against Maine.
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