Española Valley High School senior Luis Alvarado signed a national letter of intent May 12 to play basketball for Northern New Mexico College.
“Luis fulfilled a need for us at shooting guard/small forward,” Northern coach Enzley Mitchell said. “I see him as being able to play. I don’t recruit players to sit on the bench.”
Alvarado, a 6-foot-3-inch forward/guard for the Sundevils who averaged 18 points and eight rebounds per game last season, felt that Northern would be a good fit for him.
“They’d seen me play and liked the way I played,” Alvarado said. “Maybe we can get some of the fans (from Española) to watch us play It’s closer to home.”
Mitchell felt Alvarado’s versatility would be an asset to the Eagles.
“He can get to the basket,” Mitchell said. “He’s a good defender. “We’re glad to have him as part of our family.”
Alvarado joins Northern’s 2010-2011 recruiting class that includes three New Mexico High School athletes. Kurtis Thomas is a 6-foot-6-inch forward who played for Santa Fe High School and former Española coach Lenny Roybal during the 2009-10 season. He averaged 12 points and six rebounds per game last season for the Demons. Isaac Jeantete, a 6-foot-2-inch guard and another Santa Fe High School graduate, is a good outside shooter and has a high basketball IQ, according to Mitchell. He averaged 12 points and five rebounds per game during his senior season.
Joshua Sanchez is a 6-foot-7-inch forward from West Mesa High School in Albuquerque who averaged 11 points and seven rebounds per game last season.
“Josh’s offensive game is untapped and we’ll work on adding that dimension to his game at Northern,” Mitchell said in the press release.
Northern also grabbed a few recruits from outside the state.
Clarence Rivas is a 6-foot shooting guard that will transfer from the University of the Southwest in Hobbs with two years of eligibility remaining. He is from El Paso, Texas. Cameron Nelson, a 6-foot-7-inch center from Commerce High School in Commerce, Texas, fills out the 2010-2011 recruiting class at Northern. He averaged 18 points and 13.5 rebounds per game last season.
“This is a great recruiting class for us,” Mitchell said. “With this class we’ve added size, ability and skill at every position.”
In addition to the above recruits, Eddie Simmons, a member of the 2008-2009 Eagles basketball team, indicated that he would be returning to the Eagles for the 2010-2011 school year. According to Mitchell, Daniel Perez of West Mesa High School in Albuquerque and Devontae Davenport from Whitney Young High School in Chicago, Ill. plan to walk on to the Eagles.
Northern lost several players from last season’s team. Mitchell refused to identify those players or to confirm who would be returning to the team, saying it was too early. One player who will not be returning is Eric Benedick.
“It didn’t work out,” Benedick said. “It’s time to move on. It just wasn’t a good fit for a lot of people.”
Demeatrio Wade, a sophomore guard from Jamaica who played high school basketball in Decatur, Ill., indicated May 16 that he is still on the team, but regrets that many of his teammates will not be returning.
“I’m just sad most of my teammates had to leave this year because they were a great set of guys,” Wade stated in an email. “They just didn’t get along with the coaching style of the coaches.”