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Friends' Central's Lawton makes college decision

05/27/2015, 12:00am EDT

By Josh Verlin

Josh Verlin (@jmverlin)
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Jon Lawton doesn’t need to face his classmates and the same frustrating question every day anymore.

“I’m finally done with people walking up and asking what college I’m going to, and having to tell them ‘I don’t know, I don’t have any idea,’” he said.

That’s because the Friends’ Central senior point guard made his college decision on Tuesday night, committing to head coach Tobin Anderson and St. Thomas Aquinas College (N.Y.).

Lawton’s college recruitment has indeed been an up-and-down affair over the last nearly year. He picked up a Division I offer last summer, from Radford, but other commitments to the Big South school meant that offer wasn’t available for long.

Other area low-major Division I programs showed interest in the 6-foot-2 point guard as recently as last month’s live recruiting periods, but another D-I offer never came.

“It was really stressful and it was exciting at times,” he said. “A lot of taking time and sitting down, talking to my parents, talking to coaches, it was just crazy, it was hectic. Sometimes I just didn’t feel like picking up the phone because you’d have two or three coaches calling and then the next day they just wouldn’t call back.”

So his decision came down to two Division II schools in St. Thomas Aquinas and University of District Columbia, and when he went up to visit the school’s Rockville campus, located just north of the New York-New Jersey border just 30 miles from New York City.

“It’s a bigger version of Friends Central,” said Lawton, who plans on majoring in either sports marketing or sports management with a minor in international relations. “Basketball-wise it’s a great program, it’s on the up-and-up, I know I can do really well academically at that school and I just felt like it’s a great fit for my next four years.”

As a senior at Friends’ Central, Lawton averaged over 18 points and seven assists per game, finishing up his career with more than 1500 points in a Phoenix uniform. As a junior, with high-major prospect DeAndre Hunter sidelined by injury, he averaged 23.6 ppg to lead the Friends’ Schools League.

A very good outside shooter who can play either guard position, Lawton brings some very good size to the St. Thomas Aquinas backcourt and his future head coach knows he has a Division I talent on his roster.

“Every coach that’s seen him play over the last couple of years really liked his game, liked his demeanor on the floor, liked his leadership, liked how he could play both guard positions,” Friends’ Central head coach Ryan Tozer said. “I’m really so happy for him, I’m relieved that he’s found a home, a coaching staff that really believes in him, a coaching staff that really wants him.”

St. Thomas Aquinas had been far from a contender in the East Coast Conference prior to Anderson’s 2013 arrival, winning just five games in 2012-13 and 20 total in the four years before the former Siena assistant took over the program.

Anderson quickly turned the program around, going 15-14 in his first year at the helm before leading the Spartans to a 21-11 record this year that included a 17-3 record in ECC play. Lawton called his new head coach “really energetic,” and certainly sees what it is in Anderson that has made him such a successful head coach.

“He’s pretty much a ride-or-die coach,” he said. “If you mess up he’s still going to be with you, and if you’re doing really well he’s going to be with you. So I guess having that mentality as a coach helps the players feel comfortable and once all of that chemistry came all together, they started winning.”

The Spartans will return quite a bit of talent from last year's team, including leading scorer Chaz Walter, a rising junior guard who averaged 15.1 ppt, as well as rising sophomore wing Justin Reyes, who averaged 11.5 ppg and 6.9 rpg. And with underclassmen making up five of the top seven contributors overall, this is a group that should be strong for a few years to come.

But that doesn't mean that Lawton is expected to have to bide his time until he can make his presence felt in the program.

“They want me to come in and make a big impact,” he said. “[Anderson is] really confident in my abilities and so he says he’s going to let me play and I’ll be a major factor in getting through that conference championship and through to the NCAA Division II national tournament.”

First, though, he'll get to go to Friends' Central on Wednesday, ready for someone to ask him that question he's been dreading for months.

Only this time, he'll have an answer for them.