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Camden's Dasear Haskins headed to St. Joe's

04/08/2023, 2:00pm EDT
By Joseph Santoliquito

By Joseph Santoliquito (@JSantoliquito)
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At around 7 p.m. on Friday night, Camden’s 6-foot-6, 186-pound senior Dasear Haskins gave St. Joe’s head coach Billy Lange a call telling him that he is going to commit to become a Hawk. A few hours later, the newest Hawk was talking like he was a Hawk already, referring to St. Joe’s with the pronouns “us” and “we.”

Haskins, who averaged 10 points, 4.78 rebounds and 1.7 assists last season for powerful Camden, chose St. Joe’s over St. Peter’s, Wagner, Texas A&M-Commerce, San Diego, and Samford.

Haskins’ deciding factors was he has family that goes to St. Joe’s, he felt welcomed and wanted and that the St. Joe’s campus is very close to home. Haskins will be joining Roman Catholic’s Xzayvier Brown and Anthony Finkley, along with Shawn Simmons, Jr. as Hawk commits.


Camden senior Dasear Haskins announced his commitment to St. Joe's on Saturday. (Photo: Gavin Bethell/CoBL File)

At Camden, Haskins was teamed with Kentucky commits D.J. Wagner and Aaron Bradshaw. His role was doing a lot of the nasty work inside, blocking shots, playing defense, grabbing rebounds.

At St. Joe’s, he’s projected to play anywhere from small forward, to power forward to playing some post.

“I think there are parts of my games that people have yet to see,” Haskins said. “I believe a lot of people don’t know my passing and playmaking ability. I’m leaving Camden with some good memories, but I didn’t get a chance to win another state championship at Camden. We didn’t get a chance to (after Camden’s season was ended by Camden City School District in the aftermath of a brawl with Camden Eastside on Thursday, Feb. 16).

“That bothered me a lot. I wanted to go as a winner as a senior, but I didn’t get a chance to play with my teammates again one last time. Now, I’m joining a new family at St. Joe’s.”

According to Haskins, Lange told him he likes how unselfish Haskins is, and how he’s constantly looking to get his teammates involved with the offense. The highest priority for Haskins, Lange stressed, is to get larger and stronger, work on his finishing moves and try and improve his footwork.

“We spoke about that when I told coach Lange I was committing to St. Joe’s,” Haskins said. “I want to go to St. Joe’s and I want to play immediately. I know my shot blocking has to improve, trying to get that higher, and I want to work more on ballhandling and footwork.

“This is a great relief. It’s definitely a blessing. I’m going there with guys that I know. I’m actually good friends with Anthony, X and Shawn. St. Joe’s has a lot back. We’re going to try and make a run. We have the talent.

“A big reason why I’m going to St. Joe’s is because of how close it is to my house.”

Brown knows Haskins and is excited to be joined by him at St. Joe’s.

“Dasear is a good guy, and he’s a great player who leaves everything on the line,” Brown said. “Camden had a really talented team with a lot of talented players, so I think we’re going to see different sides of Dasear. Anthony and I did a lot of talking to Dasear about going to St. Joe’s with us.

“I love his attitude. He can spread the floor and shoot, and I’ll have next to me who I know will play hard. I’ve seen Dasear play. He can do a lot of things on the court, and I do believe his best will come, because he played with stars at Camden and he had to sacrifice parts of his game for everything to work. That’s an unselfish guy. St. Joe’s is getting a good player who will add to our team.”

Haskins is familiar with Hagan Arena, and looked mighty comfortable there in one of Camden's biggest games this season — a Jan. 28 win over Imhotep in which, he scored 14 points and knocked down four threes. He picked up a handful offers in the days after.

Dasear said his entire support system, with family in South Jersey and Philadelphia, will be able to watch him in college. When Dasear called Lange with the good news, Lange shouted out he was so happy he didn’t have to go on an Easter egg hunt on Sunday.

He already got a large Easter present in Haskins.

“I know the area and I know St. Joe’s was rebuilding for the last couple of years, and we had some older guys staying, and there are a number of younger guys, like me, coming in,” Haskins said. “I loved talking to coach Lange. He kept it real and he stayed loyal. He said he has a plan for me. Coach Lange told me everything that is going to happen. I see my game getting better because of coach Lange and I can’t wait to get there.

“We’re going to be a team everyone is going to have to watch for. I don’t mind using ‘we’ and ‘us,’ because that’s the way I feel. I feel like I’m part of the team already. Coach Lange makes you feel like you’re at home.”

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Joseph Santoliquito is an award-winning sportswriter based in the Philadelphia area who began writing for CoBL in 2021 and is the president of the Boxing Writers Association of America. He can be followed on Twitter here.


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