Ralston Valley’s 6-foot-5 forward Pierce Hornung, the only junior to earn all-state honors last season, and Denver Lutheran 7-footer Trevor Williams gave Colorado State coach Tim Miles his first two in-state signees on Wednesday, the start of the early basketball signing period.
CSU also signed Greg Smith, a 6-8 forward from Ralston (Nev.) H.S., who played AAU summer ball with current Rams freshman guard Jesse Carr.
“Pierce is the total package,” Miles said. “He sees the court and passes the ball like a point guard, rebounds really well and knows how to score.” Hornung averaged 18.6 points, 10.7 boards, 4.7 assists and 3.3 steals last season. Williams averaged 12.2 points and 10 boards as an honorable mention Class 3A all-state selection. “I think many coaches around the country see Trevor’s potential and I’m glad we are the ones who will develop it,” Miles said.
The CSU women’s team signed just Chantel Kennedy from Norcross, Ga. The 5-7 guard helped guide Wesleyan School to its second state championship in three seasons as a junior in 2007-08.
Colorado gets trio:
As expected, CU men’s basketball coach Jeff Bzdelik signed Alec Burks, Keegan Hornbuckle and Shane Harris-Tunks. “With the signing of these three young men, once again we have taken a major step toward creating the vision for this program,” Bzdelik said.
Burks is a 6-foot-5 guard from Grandview, Mo.; Hornbuckle is a 6-6 small forward from Los Angeles; and Harris-Tunks is a 6-11 center/forward from Sydney, Australia, where he spent the last year and a half at the Australian Institute of Sport.
Dermody to miss opener.
The University of Wyoming’s third-leading scorer from last season, Ryan Dermody, will miss Friday’s basketball season opener vs. Cal State-Bakersfield. Dermody injured his left elbow in Wednesday’s practice. The extent of the injury is not known. The 6-9 junior forward from Loveland, and a transfer from Colorado, started 29 games last season and averaged 9.3 points and 5.3 rebounds.
