COBLESKILL MEN’S BASKETBALL LANDS SCHENECTADY HIGH STANDOUT

SUNY Cobleskill Head Men’s Basketball Coach Kevin McCarthy announced today that Schenectady High School standout Anthony Armstead has signed a “National Letter of Intent” to join the Fighting Tiger program for the 2006-07 season. The Patriot star power forward helped lead Coach Mark Sausville’s Patriots to a 19-4 record this season including a 14-2 mark in Big Ten Conference. Coach McCarthy returns from a season long coaching sabbatical after leading Cobleskill to the 2005 NJCAA Division III “Elite Eight” with a program best 30-6 overall record and 11 consecutive twenty-win campaigns the Fighting Tigers.

“This young man played for Mark Sausville at Schenectady High School; one of the most respected programs in New York, which means he understands what has to be done in order to be successful,” said McCarthy. “I have a great amount of respect for the way that Mark teaches the game of basketball and the demands he makes of his players away from the court concerning academics and citizenship. As you may recall we had a young man by the name of Prince Jackson here from Mark’s program who was a Junior College All-American, helped us to win 45 games in two seasons and is still our all-time leading scorer. When you bring in good people from highly successful high school programs good things usually happen. I know that nothing is absolute when recruiting, but I certainly like our odds with Anthony being here next fall.”

The 6’5” Armstead is power forward who is a very athletic and explosive player around the basket and earned All-Big Ten Conference honors this season averaging 12.6 points and 9.9 rebounds per contest this season for the Patriots.

According to McCarthy, Armstead has the attributes in his game that will a void for the Fighting Tigers next season. “I think that in Anthony we are getting a very active and powerful post player who can get out and run in transition both offensively and defensively. I also believe that he is going to give us presence in the paint which you need to be successful at the college level.”    

The Fighting Tigers closed the 2005-06 season with an 11-17 under the direction of Interim Coach Marc Rybczyk including a 6-12 record Mountain Valley Conference play marking the first time since the 1992-93 season the program did not post a .500 season record.