July 17, 2007

ABILENE, Texas - Hardin-Simmons' men's basketball coach Dylan Howard has announced seven commitments for the 2007-08 basketball season and the class consists of three incoming freshmen and four transfers.

Tony Mataya (6-3 shooting guard from Klein High School), Cameron Ayala (6-5 power forward from Langham Creek) and Joe Rushing (5-10 point guard from Lampasas) highlight the freshman class.

Mataya averaged 10.5 points, five assists and four rebounds per game. He is a big guard that can post up and shoot the 3-pointer.

Ayala is a 6-5 player with good touch around the basket and goes hard to the boards. He averaged 8.4 points and four rebounds per game.

Rushing averaged 15 points per game and three assists at Lampasas. He has good fundamentals and was an academic all-district selection.

The transfers include three junior college players and Richard Hooper, who played one season at Sul Ross State.

Hooper is originally from Andrews and his brother Sid was the American Southwest Player of the Year for the Lobos. Richard averaged 5.2 points and two rebounds in his freshman season at SRSU.

Rian Stubbs is a 6-5 forward from Clarendon Junior College. He is originally from Corsicana High School. He is a good shooter and rebounder and averaged 7.1 points and 3.2 rebounds last season for Clarendon.

Marcus Smith is a 5-11 point guard from New Mexico Military. He averaged 10.5 points per game, four rebounds and four assists. He is a good floor leader and is quick and strong.

Casey Riddle is a 5-9 guard from Midland Junior College. He redshirted at Midland last season, but averaged 20 points, five assists and four rebounds per game as a first-team all-state selection at Lipan High School as a senior. He is a shooter and good defender.

"We got a class that is very heavy on guards. We lose all three of our perimeter starters from a year ago and we need some players that can score the ball for us," said Howard. "We needed a class like this. I focused on some transfers because we need some players to come in and have an immediate impact."

HSU is losing its top five scoring perimeter players from a year ago. The Cowboys do return a lot of experience in the frontcourt with Mardochee and Dan Jean and Ryan Ocheskey in the post and Charles Pannell is expected to step into the role filled by ASC player of the year Zach Pickelman. Steven Luckey, who was the backup point guard last year, is the only returning regular on the perimeter.