ELLENSBURG (Apr. 2) -- Guard
Drew Harris, who prepped at Eisenhower High School in Yakima before a three-year collegiate career at Seattle University, has been accepted to attend Central Washington University this fall and is expected to join the Wildcat men’s basketball program for the 2010-11 season, head coach
Greg Sparling announced Friday.
“We recruited Drew hard out of high school,” Sparling said, “and we are very pleased that he has decided to come back and play his senior year at Central. Drew is a true point guard -- pass first, score second -- and will be a great addition to the Wildcat program. Being a true point guard, he will fill an immediate need that our program had with the graduation of (two-year starting point guard)
Jon Clift.”
Harris is a 6-foot, 170-pound guard who spent three seasons at SeattleU, a former Great Northwest Athletic Conference rival of Central Washington’s before the Redhawks’ move to NCAA Division I status. Harris played in 65 games over three seasons with SeattleU, and had his best campaign in the Emerald City as a sophomore in 2008-09, averaging 5.9 points and 2.5 assists per game while logging 20.3 minutes per contest for the Redhawks. He appeared in just 13 games this past winter before leaving the team.
The addition of Harris to the Wildcats for the 2010-11 campaign will give Sparling a pair of backcourt products from Yakima.
Humberto Perez, who prepped at Davis High School, will be a senior for CWU next winter. Harris is also the nephew of former Wildcat guard Joe Harris, who had a CWU school-record 404 assists in two seasons from 1985-87.
Harris played at Eisenhower High School, averaging 19.0 points, 7.0 assists, and 2.5 steals per game to earn team Most Valuable Player honors. A 2007 graduate of Eisenhower, he was a first-team selection to the Class 4A all-state and Columbia Basin Big Nine League teams during his senior season.
Central Washington finished 16-11 overall and 10-6 in the Great Northwest Athletic Conference this past winter, earning the program’s third consecutive appearance in the NCAA Division II Men’s Basketball Championship tournament and its fourth trip to the postseason in the past five years.