Men's Basketball, Sports

49er men’s hoops signs three recruits

The Long Beach State men’s basketball team sealed a large portion of its 2010 recruiting class on the first day of the early signing period, head coach Dan Monson announced Wednesday.

LBSU was able to land three key high school recruits from three different states, including an ESPNU 100 player and a Long Beach Poly guard.

The most notable player to sign with the 49ers is Jacob Thomas, a guard from Minnesota. Thomas, who ranks No. 89 on the ESPNU 100 list, averaged 22.7 points per game and 4.0 rebounds in his junior season. The 6-foot-4 Columbia Heights native scored in double figures in all 29 games he played in last year, including eight 30-point games.

“He is a kid who is an elite scorer and an elite shooter,” Monson said in a press release. “Those [recruiting] rankings don’t mean much, but still, you don’t get a lot of kids in our league who are ranked that highly. He is ranked that high for a reason. He can score on anybody and he just has a knack for putting the ball in the basket.”

The Beach also signed Shelton Boykin, who averaged 10.2 points per game and 6.0 rebounds per game for the Jackrabbits in his junior year last season. The 6-foot-5 guard also converted on 50 percent of his field goal tries.

“One thing we want to do is get the best player in the area every year,” Monson said. “We felt like Shelton was the best overall basketball player in the Long Beach area. … He can play multiple positions, be a good defender, score the basketball and help us rebound.”

The 49ers also received a national letter of intent from forward Nick Shepard. The Texas native averaged 10 ppg and 7 rpg and earned 12 double-doubles in 36 games played last season.

“Nick is different than any big guy we have in our program,” Monson said. “We just don’t have a guy with the length and size of him that is as mobile as he is. He just gives us a different dimension inside, from running the court and finishing to blocking shots.”

In his third season, Monson is beginning to take a different approach to recruiting.

“We are thinking in recruiting mode that the first year we were trying to get good players,” Monson said. “Now we are trying to get good players that fit our needs.”

 

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