Long Beach State University Athletics
49ers Announce Signees
11/16/2007 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
49ers Announce Two Signees
Eugene Phelps and Casper Ware Sign Letters
November 16, 2007
LONG BEACH, Calif. -- Long Beach State Head Men's Basketball Coach Dan Monson announced that Eugene Phelps (F, 6-6, 200, Los Angeles, Calif., Taft HS) and Casper Ware (G, 5-9, 170, Cerritos, Calif., Gahr HS) have signed a National Letters-of-Intent with the 49ers. Both Phelps and Ware were recently named to the Long Beach Press-Telegram's 29th Annual "Best In The West" third team.
Phelps averaged 11.0 points and 3.1 rebounds per game last season at Taft High School in Woodland Hills. He shot .738 (59-80) from the field and had 10 games in double figure scoring. He tallied 22 points vs. Chatsworth and had 23 points and 10 rebounds vs. Campbell Hall. Taft was 3-20 last season and was 3-6 in the West Valley League. Taft had to forfeit 15 victories last year due to an ineligible player.
Ware was a first team All-CIF I-AA selection at Gahr High School. Ware helped lead the Gladiators to a 24-5 mark and a 9-1 record in the San Gabriel Valley League. Gahr lost to St.John Bosco in the CIF-SS playoffs after advancing to the CIF quarterfinals his sophomore season. Ware was a second team All-CIF III-AA selection as a sophomore and first team All-CIF I-AA as a junior. He is a two-time first team All-San Gabriel Valley League selection and was the league's co-Player of the Year in 2007. Ware was a first team selection to the Long Beach Press-Telegram's "Dream Team" last season.
"We're really excited with our first opportunity to build for the future as far as a recruiting class," said Monson. "We think these two young men, being freshmen, will be an integral part of our future. We don't have a pure point guard in our program right now and we believe Casper Ware fits that bill. He's got great quickness and great leadership ability. More than anything, he's a winner. He's proven that at Gahr and he proved that over the summer when we saw him play. Eugene Phelps is a versatile player that can play both in and out. He's strong, he's athletic and he gives us a lot of versatility next year to build around. Both of these kids have been well-coached and are from winning programs, which is something we want to value in our program. Both are first class kids that come from great basketball backgrounds."
