(St. Louis, MO) – The reinforcements for Missouri Baptist University are coming and they are talented. If the Spartans are going to be an upper tier team in the American Midwest Conference, coach Matt Brock’s new recruits will be front and center in that climb to success.
The nine man recruiting class has size, athleticism, experience and skill. Brock has continued to coax international players to the West St. Louis County campus and has pulled off the coup of the recruiting season in landing an NAIA all-American graduate transfer. Yes, this group has the makings of taking the Spartans to the proverbial ‘next level’.
Talented players sign with schools for a myriad of reasons, Brock landed highly skilled Spaniard Jesus Castillo through a series of relationships that originally brought Pablo Hernandez to the Spartan program. When a coaching change happened at Division 2 Maryville University, two more players landed at MBU.
Brock says Castillo is an ultra talented and athletic player, and the Maryville transfers Karson King and Zach Beel bring size, athleticism and great experience.
Freed-Hardemann transfer Fitz Hopkins was an all-american point guard that averaged 12.9 points and 4.2 assists per game and is playing at MoBap as a graduate transfer. His experience on a highly successful AMC team will be invaluable for a deeply newcomer laden Spartan team.
Brock says Hopkins is a proven player in AMC and can be a true difference maker.
Other transfers Torrance Littles and Joel Baskin are important cogs in the MBU machinery. Littles may be the best athlete on the team and at 6’8 averaged 7.5 rebounds to go with almost 13 points per game at Trinidad State. Baskin is a 6’3 guard who made 48% of of his field goal attempts at Hinds Community College (MS).
Brock says he’s excited about all the incoming talent.
Rounding out this year’s recruiting class are a pair of prolific scoring freshmen, John Yaeger from nearby Lutheran South and Matt Sommer from Nevada, Missouri. Each reached the 1,000 point plateau during their prep careers. Sommer is a 6′ guard and the 6’4 Yaeger will be transitioning from a high school forward to playing on the wing. Yeager averaged 21.3 points per game for the Lancers.
Geri Kozma is a 6’4 guard from Hungary who was invited to the Hungarian National U20 tryouts.
The Spartans’ first game is November 4 when Baptist Bible College visits the SRC.
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