City of Basketball Love

Josh Verlin (@jmverlin)
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The best rising senior in South Jersey is off the board.

St. Augustine Prep's Justyn Mutts ended his college recruitment on Thursday afternoon, posting a note on Twitter that said he'd committed to High Point University.

Mutts had a strong summer playing with Team Final on the Nike EYBL circuit, averaging 5.4 point and 4.4 rebounds off the bench. A 6-foot-7, 210-pound combo forward, he impressed with his athleticism and two-way versatility, capable of playing the '3' or '4' and even the '5' in a smaller lineup, with a high-energy motor and good basketball IQ.

"He has evolved from a role player into an impact defender and awesome competitor who can guard multiple positions," Team Final 17U head coach Aaron Burt said. "As he continues to grow offensively people will recognize High Point is getting a steal."

By the time he made his college decision he'd pulled in over 20 offers, including more than half of the Atlantic 10: Saint Joseph's and La Salle had offered, as had Dayton, Richmond, VCU, Saint Louis and St. Bonaventure; High Point was actually the final school on his list to offer, doing so in July.

Monmouth, the only New Jersey school to offer, had also been heavily involved in Mutts' recruitment.

Mutts took his first official visit to Dayton, at the end of June, and also took official trips to Howard (Aug. 20) and Richmond (Aug. 27). But a visit to High Point on Aug. 23 was enough to seal the deal.

A private, liberal arts school located in High Point, N.C., HPU was founded as High Point College in 1924 and received University status in 1991.

It's athletics teams, the Panthers, play in the Big South Conference along with programs like Campbell, Gardner-Webb, UNC-Asheville and Winthrop.

Last year, High Point's men's basketball team went 20-9 (13-5) during the regular season, winning the Big South regular-season championship, but the Panthers were upset by UNC-Asheville in the Big South tournament semifinals; HPU then lost to South Carolina in the opening round of the NIT.

CoBL will have more on this story as it becomes available