NEWARK, NJ—Sean McCarthy, a 6-foot-10 center who has helped his last two teams into their respective championship games, will become a member of the NJIT Highlanders when he begins classes in the fall, men's basketball coach Jim Engles announced.
McCarthy, the sixth student-athlete to sign a National Letter of Intent with NJIT men's basketball for the upcoming academic year, is a 2008 graduate of Scituate High School in his hometown of Scituate, MA, and he spent 2008-09 as a postgraduate student at the Loomis Chaffee School in Windsor, CT.
As a senior at Scituate High, McCarthy helped his team to a 23-3 record, the Eastern Massachusetts championship and a berth in the state Division III championship game. At Loomis Chaffee, he helped the team to a 19-5 record and its first New England prep school title in 30 years as Western New England prep champions.
In 2008, after averaging 12 points, 12 rebounds and six blocks per game as a high school senior, he was named All-Scholastic by the Patriot Ledger newspaper of Quincy, MA, which serves the suburban area south of Boston.
Following his year at Loomis Chaffee, he was named to the West team in the prep school all-star game at the New England Challenge sponsored by the Basketball Hall of Fame in Springfield, MA. One of his teammates in that game was Chris Flores of Marianapolis Prep, who will be joining McCarthy as an NJIT freshman this fall.
The internet site New England Recruiting Report rated McCarthy as the 39th-best prospect in Connecticut and 142nd in New England following the 2008-09 season.
“He has terrific hands and runs the floor extremely well for his size,” said Engles of the 6-foot-10, 250-pound recruit who will join 6-foot-9 rising senior Dan Stonkus as one of two tall pure interior players on the 2009-10 NJIT roster.
While noting that McCarthy, like most big men entering Division I basketball, especially below the level of the power conferences, has areas of his game that will need improvement, Engles sees many positives. “Sean plays hard, has a good back-to-the-basket game and rebounds well,” said the coach. “He could develop into a very good center.”
The six-man group of NLI signees, besides McCarthy is (listed alphabetically): Matt Darnell, a 6-6 forward from Stafford, VA and North Stafford HS; Chris Flores, a 6-2 guard from Dorchester, MA and O'Bryant School of Math & Science in Roxbury, MA, who prepped at Marianapolis Prep in Thompson, CT; Nick Lopez, a 6-6 forward from Jackson, NJ, and the Solebury School in New Hope, PA; PJ Miller, a 6-3 guard from Fort Washington, MD and the Potomac School in McLean, VA; and, Drejon Scott, a 5-10 guard from Hopewell, VA, and Petersburg HS.
NJIT is on track to become an active championship-eligible member of NCAA Division I late this summer and the Highlanders will begin play in the inaugural Great West Conference basketball season in 2009-10, as well. The new season will open in mid-November.
