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One arrival, one departure
Bonesville.net Staff Report
©2004 Bonesville.net
Belton Rivers announced his
plans to transfer out of the East Carolina basketball program just as high
school forward Jonathan Hart officially stated his intentions to become a
Pirate on Monday.
Hart, a 6-foot-6 forward from
Roselle, N.J., averaged 26 points and 12 rebounds as a high school senior.
Pirates coach Bill Herrion
describes Hart as “an athletic open court player.”
The Pirates have offered their
remaining available scholarship to scoring guard Dwayne Shackleford of
Allegany College in Cumberland, Md., who has visited ECU and Southern
California. The Pirates signed a teammate of Shackleford’s, 6-8 power
forward Mike Castro, and 6-10 Charles Bronson of Philadelphia Lutheran
during the November signing period.
Diminished playing time with
the emergence of Mike Cook in the backcourt was apparently the driving force
in Rivers’ decision to depart ECU.
Rivers averaged 8.0 points and
28.6 minutes as a freshman during the 2002-03 season when he started 25
games. The Atlanta product was replaced in the starting lineup by Cook in
January last season and started just 15 games. Cook averaged 10.4 points and
was one of five selections to the All Conference USA freshmen team.
Rivers averaged 8.2 points and
24.0 minutes as a sophomore with a high game of 26 points in a 72-69 loss at
Alabama-Birmingham on Feb. 14.
Rivers did not receive one of
six individual awards presented at a team banquet on Sunday night at the
Murphy Center.
“Belton has decided to leave
and pursue other options,” Herrion said in a university release. “We wish
him nothing but the best of luck.”
The release stated that Rivers
had not indicated where he would transfer.
ECU (13-14, 5-11 C-USA) made
the C-USA Tournament last season after going 12-15 and 3-13 and failing to
qualify for the league event the previous season. Herrion had a year added
to his contract, which now runs through the 2007-08 season, after the
program showed progress during the 2003-04 season.
Copyright 2004
Bonesville.net. All rights reserved. This material may not be
published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
02/23/2007 11:46:54 AM
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