HAMILTON, N.Y. (12/17/07) – The Colgate men's basketball program has received commitments from three student-athletes to join the Raiders for the 2008-09 season. All three players signed National Letters of Intent during the early signing period.
The three high school standouts are Georgia's Yaw Gyawu, a 6-5 forward from Parkview High School in Lilburn; and New York's Brett Marfurt, a 6-4 guard from Guilderland High School; and Nick Pascale, a 6-10 center from Jamesville-Dewitt High School.
"These three young men will be excellent additions to our program," said Colgate head coach Emmett Davis. "We are thrilled that they have chosen to join our Colgate basketball family. We are graduating some talented players in May and Nick, Yaw and Brett should help bolster our talent pool and provide continued continuity and success for the program."
"We are extremely excited about Gyawu," said Davis. "He is an outstanding high school player who has a bright future at Colgate. He is a versatile forward who can score inside and out and with his athleticism and size he can defend guards and post players. He comes from a strong program at Parkview outside Atlanta and has gotten excellent coaching from veteran head coach Tim Watkins. In addition to being an outstanding player, Yaw is a strong student and an even better person. I am very much looking forward to coaching him for the next four seasons."
Last year, he averaged 22.8 points per game while leading Parkview to the state AAAAA Sweet Sixteen. He also grabbed 7.0 rebounds per game, while shooting 63 percent from the field. Gyawu was named honorable mention All-State, first team all-Gwinnett County, first team all-Region (8-AAAAA), and most valuable player of the Powerade Invitational for the second straight season.
Prior to the start of the 2007-08 season, Gyawu was named to the preseason Gwinnett Daily Post Super Six. The other players on the list were Al-Farouq Aminu/Wake Forest signee, Tanner Smith/Clemson signee, Howard Tompkins/Georgia signee, Teondre Williams/Oregon signee and Wesley Witherspoon, an unsigned Division I prospect.
So far this season, Gyawu is averaging 24.2 points per game and seven rebounds while leading Parkview to a 4-0 mark.
"Brett Marfurt is an outstanding shooter with unlimited range," said Davis. "He had a very successful summer playing AAU basketball for the Albany City Rocks, one of the premier AAU organizations in the nation headed up by City Rocks founder, Jim Hart. We were very impressed with Brett this summer and believe that his best basketball is still ahead of him. He has good size for a guard and is a bouncy athlete who plays with great confidence. With the three point line moving back one full foot next season, it will be great to have another deep shooter to compliment our returning three point shooting players. We expect Brett will improve greatly this season under Ron Osinski's guidance, a veteran high school coach, who has over 300 scholastic victories to his credit."
Marfurt comes to Colgate with the reputation as an accurate deep three-point shooter. Last season he averaged 18 points, eight rebounds, four assists and two blocks per game and was selected as Guilderland's MVP. Marfurt gained recognition throughout the Capitol District and the state on various all-star teams. He was selected to the 2007 NYSSWA All-New York State Team (NYS Sportswriters Association), First Team All-Suburban Council, WNYT News Channel 13 All-Star and Albany Times Union Section II First Team All-Star.
With Marfurt averaging 20 points, eight rebounds and six assists, Guilderland is off to a 5-1 mark in 2007-08.
"Nick Pascale is a very skilled inside player who can score both with his back to the basket and from the perimeter, said Davis. "Throughout his high school career playing for Bob McKinney, one of New York States most successful high school coaches, Nick has developed into an outstanding Division I prospect. Nick has shown himself to be a strong rebounder, passer and shot blocker who has tremendous potential. Finding players who come from winning programs is always a priority for us and Nick's career at J-D has only been about winning."
As a junior, Pascale helped lead J-D to a 20-2 record and averaged 12 points and eight rebounds per game. The two-time Zebra Classic participant has helped lead his team to a 37-0 league record during his career and a 44-4 overall mark. J-D is presently the #2 ranked Class A team in New York State and top rated team in Section III. In helping the Rams to their 4-0 start, Pascale was recently named to the All-Tournament team at the J-D Tip-Off Tourney. He is averaging 14 points per game and 10 rebounds. He has been a class officer for four years and a member of the National Honor Society as well as the 2005 Leadership Award winner.