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N.Y. guard a Vital target for St. Joe's in 2016

07/16/2015, 10:15am EDT

By Josh Verlin

Josh Verlin (@jmverlin)
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A solid run in Nike’s Peach Jam championships last week ended in disappointing fashion for Christian Vital and the PSA Cardinals.

Down 58-56 to Team Takeover with four seconds left in overtime of the quarterfinals, PSA Cardinals guard and Virginia commit Ty Jerome was nearly intentionally fouled as he threw up a 3-point shot.

And it certainly looked like as the ball descended towards the net, at least one Takeover player touched the net--but goaltending wasn’t called. Takeover left the court immediately at the final buzzer; the PSA coaches and players protested loudly, but left the court largely with their heads hanging and tears flowing.

“It is what it is, a lot of people saw what happened,” Vital said, adding “I thought we finished the year really well as a team.”

On Wednesday afternoon at the Ty Lawson/Victor Oladipo All-American Camp, he was in much better spirits.

The 6-foot-2, 175-pound combo guard continued his strong play during the July Live Periods in his first game of the Lawson/Oladipo camp, going for 19 points and five rebounds in front of about 100 Division I college coaches.

That came after a five-game span at Peach Jam where he averaged a little over 10 ppg, shooting 43.5 percent (10-of-23) from 3-point range and pulling in nearly five boards per game as well.

“I’m just looking for coaches to see that I’ve improved my game, each year I’m just trying to step up and be more versatile each year going into college,” he said. “I think I made a case for myself doing that down at Peach Jam.”

Due to that strong week, UNLV and Minnesota reached out to Vital, but they’re going to have to put in some serious work to catch up with a few schools that are hot on his trail.

If his recruitment ended this moment, there’s one league that looks like his most likely landing spot by far.

“Right now, it’s the whole Atlantic 10 (calling me), basically,” Vital said. “Duquesne texts me like every day, coach (Brian) Nash and coach (Jim) Ferry, I speak to coach (Danny) Hurley and coach (Jim) Carr a lot over at URI. George Mason, I speak to coach (Dave) Paulsen and coach (Aaron) Kelly a lot.”

Both local A-10 schools, La Salle and Saint Joseph’s, have offered, but one in particular has made him a serious priority.

“I talk to (Phil) Martelli like every day, he calls me a lot, he’s a big fan of my game and I appreciate them,” Vital said of the SJU head coach. “Him and coach (Dave) Duda, they text me, it’s either one or the other texting me every day.”

As for whether or not the Hawks are a serious contender, Vital said “definitely,” but he’s not ready to make any final declarations just yet.

“A lot of people say ‘wide open,’ I’m just continuing to play basketball,” he said. “When July ends then I’m going to go back home, see my family, spend more time with them and then as I approach going back to St. Thomas More that’s when i’ll start to say ‘here’s the schools I have.’”

If he doesn’t make his mind up before school starts in the fall, that could ultimately wind up being in Saint Joseph’s favor.

Vital, a native of Queens Village in New York City, will be joined at St. Thomas More this season by Washington HS grad and SJU commit Charlie Brown, a 6-6 wing whose stock has been rising quicker than just about anybody around over the last 12 months.

“I haven’t met him,” Vital said. “I know is he’s 6-6, he can score the basketball, he’s a long defender, so I think he’s going to definitely help us out, that’s definitely the talent that I wanted to come into St. Thomas More for my senior year, so we can make a run at winning the national championship.”

They’ll have plenty of talent on the roster to compete with the likes of Brewster Academy, New Hampton Prep and Northfield Mt. Hermon for the New England Prep School Athletic Council (NEPSAC) Class AAA championship. Also joining the two at the Oakdale, Conn. prep school is Villanova commit Omari Spellman, a top-20 forward; more are sure to join in the next few months.

But certainly, Vital is vital to their chances.

“I’m going to be the guy returning on the team so I’m going to be the leader,” he said. “I’m just looking to be the guy who (makes people say) ‘you don’t want to play St. Thomas More, they have a leader over there, and they’re about the right stuff.’”