Sports
Ohio Basketball Signs Four To 2014 Recruiting Class
< < Back toOhio men's basketball announced its 2014 recruiting class on Friday, after a quartet of players signed their letters of intent to join the Bobcats.
Kendall Crute, Nehemias Morillo, Tariq Owens and Rodell Wigginton will be suiting up for the Green and White next fall.
Crute and Owens are high school recruits while Morillo and Wigginton come from junior college programs.
Owens, a forward at 6-foot-9 and 180 pounds, is an impressive signing for the Bobcats, as he had offers from Miami (FL), South Florida, Temple and Virginia Commonwealth, according to Scout.com. The 3-star recruit hails from St. Vincent Palloti High School in Laurel, Md. Aside from high school hoops he also played AAU basketball for Baltimore’s Finest.
Owens has a wide wingspan and brings a high level of athleticism to the court. He excels on the defensive end of the floor where his shot blocking and rebounding abilities are most dominant. He shows promise in the low-post and his offensive game, though raw, has tremendous upside.
Crute stands at 6-foot-3 and plays high school ball at North Cobb Christian High School in Marietta, Ga. Last season, as a junior, he averaged 15.4 points and 3.3 assists per game on his way to earning a spot on the all-state second team.
Crute is a strong and athletic combo guard who can be a lock-down defender. Scout.com rates the guard with two stars. He drew interest from several schools in the south, but now finds himself Athens, Ohio.
Morillo is a lengthy guard at 6-foot-6 and is heading into his second season at Monroe College. Last season for the Mustangs he averaged 6.0 points and 3.0 assists per game. In the first two games of this season he has averaged 18 points per contest. He has also averaged 4.5 rebounds, 3.5 assists and 2.0 steals, showing an ability to do a bit of everything.
The Mustang guard is an excellent ball hander and his size gives him an advantage on defense. The Dominican Republic-native will play with a familiar face next year in Ohio forward Maurice Ndour, who played for the Mustangs a year ago.
Wigginton, Ohio’s other JUCO recruit, is another big guard that can also play some at forward at 6-foot-6. The native of Dartmouth, Nova Scotia, is heading into his second season at the College of Central Florida. He was an instrumental piece in the Patriots’ 2012-13 NJCAA National Championship season. Over the course of the championship season he averaged 14.0 points per game. He is leading the No. 1 ranked Patriots through the first four games of the 2013-14 campaign with a scoring average of 25.8 points per game.
Wigginton is a strong and athletic wing that can score and rebound well.
With the signings behind him, Ohio head coach Jim Christian can get back to preparation for Ohio’s game on Sunday against Valparaiso. The Bobcats and Crusaders will tipoff in the Convocation Center at 2 p.m.