June 15, 2005
NEW YORK, N.Y. - Five players - two guards and three forwards - will join the Columbia men's basketball team in the fall of 2005, Head Coach Joe Jones announced today. The Jones regime has now brought in 13 recruits entering the third season with the Lions.
The rookie guards come with an international flavor, as Tokyo-native KJ Matsui and Canadian Daniel Trepanier suit up for the Lions next season.
Matsui attended high school at Montrose Christian in Rockville, Md., and arrives at Columbia after playing in the 2005 Nike Hoop Summit for the World Select Team. The 6-2 guard was the second-leading scorer for Montrose, averaging 15 points per game, while shooting 51 percent from behind the three-point line. Matsui scored seven points in 11 minutes at the star-studded Hoop Summit, despite falling to the USA Junior National Select Team, 106-98. The shooter is believed to be the first Japanese Division I recruit in the country.
Trepanier was a two-time captain at St. Anne's High School in Tecumseh, Ontario and was ranked the third-best player at the All-Canada basketball camp. He averaged 24 points, seven assists and five rebounds as a senior, en route to his second WECSSA League Mr. Basketball honor. Trepanier was the first player in the history of the Windsor league to earn the honor twice. The 6-2 guard won the three-point shootout at both the All-Canada game, where he went 15-for-20, and the WECSSA All-Star game, where he made 22 of 24 threes, in one minute.
Three states are represented in the Class of 2009's frontcourt as Joe Bova of Scotia, N.Y., Jason Miller of Hamilton, Ohio and Leo Nolan of Summit, N.J. join the Lions this season.
Bova, a 6-7 forward from Christian Brothers Academy in Scotia, N.Y., was captain in his fourth year as a varsity player at CBA. Bova was the Big 10 Conference Most Valuable Player and the News Channel 13 Scholar-Athlete of the Year. He added those honors to his two-time New York State Section 2 Class AA MVP awards and his two-time All-Big 10 selection. He was named All-State as a senior as CBA's all-time leading scorer with 1,322 points and he was selected to play in the Old Spice Red Zone Classic All-Star Shootout, which pitted New York all-stars vs. Chicago all-stars. Bova was selected as the Roger Morris Scholar Athlete of the Game during the nationally televised game in Chicago.
Miller led Hamilton High School in scoring, rebounding, blocked shots and field goal percentage. The 6-8 forward was named captain as a senior when he averaged 14.7 points per game and 10.5 rebounds per game. He was first team Ohio Division I Tournament as he led Hamilton to the 2004 State of Ohio Division I championship. He was first team All-Butler County, first team All-Greater Miami Conference and honorable mention All-District. He was named to the All-Ohio all-star team, the Ohio North-South game and the All-District all-star team.
Leo Nolan played for the Hun School in Princeton, N.J. and was named second team All-Prep All-State by the Star Ledger. The team captain averaged 13 points per game and five rebounds to earn first team All-Area honors from the Princeton Packet and the Trenton Times.
"We are very excited about our incoming class," Head Coach Joe Jones said. "They all come from terrific basketball backgrounds and understand the commitment to winning. We expect great things from them in the future."
