UTEP Basketball: Miners sign Joey St.Pierre

UTEP Coach Tim Floyd announced on Wednesday that Joey St. Pierre has signed a national letter of intent to join the Miner basketball team for the 2017-18 season.

A 6-10, 280-pound center, St. Pierre played in 14 games for Richmond-Burton High School in Richmond, Ill. last season. He averaged 13.7 points, 7.6 rebounds and 2.6 blocks with three double-doubles. His top performance was against Woodstock High School, as he tallied 26 points and 17 rebounds. He was regarded as the no. 11 player in the state of Illinois by ESPN. He missed the second half of the season after undergoing kidney surgery.

“Joey is a big, physical guy. He reminds us of Cedrick Lang,” Floyd said. “He can rebound and defend and he’s a good athlete. He plays hard. He could be a great screener. He’s a good passer out of the post. He’s going to continue to develop, just like our other bigs have over the years. He will get better and better. Because of his size, athleticism and ability to rebound we can see places where he can help us as a freshman.”

“Joey is physically talented and a hard worker with a vast array of post moves,” said Brandon Creason, the head coach at Richmond-Burton High School. “His game will transition well to the college level.”

St. Pierre was also a tight end and receiver on the Richmond-Burton football team in the fall of 2016.

The native of Spring Grove, Ill. played three seasons on the Richmond-Burton varsity team and was a member of the two-time Big Northern Conference East Division champion as a freshman and sophomore. He spent the first semester of his junior campaign at La Lumiere prep school in La Porte, Ind., where he also played before returning to Richmond-Burton.

He appeared in 68 games for Richmond-Burton, averaging 11.7 points, 6.4 rebounds and 2.7 blocks.

St. Pierre joins fall signees Evan Gilyard, Kobe Magee, Tirus Smith and Roderick Williams. Other additions to the 2017-18 roster include Isiah Osborne and Trey Wade, who sat out last season.

Tim Floyd confirmed to Miner Rush that the class of 2017 is now complete, meaning Ladarius Brewer will not sign with UTEP.