Rick Ray adds to Southeast Missouri State basketball's guard group with JUCO signing

Southeast Missouri State men's basketball coach Rick Ray signed his sixth guard for next season.

Jonathan Dalton, a 5-foot-10, 160-pound guard from Copiah-Lincoln Community College in Wesson, Missisippi, signed his National Letter of Intent to play for the Redhawks, it was announced Monday.

Dalton will have three seasons of eligibility as he transferred from Copiah-Lincoln after one season.

"Jonathan provides us with an explosive playmaker who will give our team a very different dimension," Ray said in a press release. "He will be as quick and fast as any guard in the entire Ohio Valley Conference. Our team will benefit from the pressure Jonathan will put on the opposing defense with his attacking style of play. Plus, we will benefit from the fact that he has three years of eligibility in our program instead of your typical two years for junior college transfers."

Dalton, from New Orleans, averaged 20.1 points per game as a freshman after missing the first half of the season due to an injury sustained in the team's first game. He recorded 60 assists and was selected Mississippi Association of Community and Junior College South Division second-team all-state.

Guards Ray Kowalski, Denzel Mahoney, Tahj Eaddy, Daniel Simmons and Dondre Duffus and forward Milos Vranes in this signing class.