Southeast officially adds highly touted recruit

~ The Redhawks received Martino Brock's letter of intent.

As the Southeast Missouri State men's basketball team headed to Chicago by bus Wednesday, coach Scott Edgar was a happy man.

And not only because the Redhawks (2-2) evened their record with their second straight win, Tuesday night's impressive 87-77 triumph over visiting Evansville.

Edgar also was fired up over the two-player recruiting class he and his staff put together during the week-long early signing period that ended Wednesday.

After junior college forward Mark Caviness signed with the Redhawks on Monday, touted high school combo guard Martino Brock sent his letter of intent to Southeast the following day.

Southeast's Jaycen Herring stepped around Evansville's Shy Ely during their game Tuesday at the Show Me Center. (AARON EISENHAUER ~ photos@semissourian.com)

The 6-foot-5, 200-pound Brock, a senior at Nashville (Tenn.) Christian Advancement Academy, is rated a three-star recruit by Rivals.com, one of the nation's top recruiting Web sites.

In the Rivals.com top 150 national list for the class of 2008, the top 28 players are rated five-star recruits, with the next 72 four-star recruits and the last 50 three-star recruits.

Brock is not among the Rivals.com top 150, but the fact he is rated a three-star recruit means he is not far removed from that list.

"I'm as excited about his signing as any player I've ever signed," Edgar said late Tuesday night, following the Evansville victory.

Nashville Christian Advancement Academy coach Carl Reed said recently that Cincinnati, Missouri, Auburn and Mississippi were among the schools that had also been recruiting Brock at one time.

"He had a lot of high-major looks," said Edgar, whose squad will play Friday and Saturday in the Chicago Invitational Challenge at the Sears Center in Hoffman Estates, Ill. "He's a supreme competitor. ... He's as fast as any 6-5 player in the country."

A native of Memphis, Tenn., Brock averaged 14 points and seven rebounds per game last season for Memphis Ridgeway High School before transferring to Nashville Christian Advancement Academy for his senior season.

Reed, who rates Brock as a superior athlete and defender, said recently that a major factor in Brock picking Southeast was Edgar, who is well known in Memphis after recruiting in the city for many years, including as an assistant at Arkansas and Tennessee, and as the head coach at Murray State.

Edgar is elated that Brock and Caviness -- a versatile 6-5, 200-pound sophomore at Indian River Community College in Fort Pierce, Fla., who averaged 13.4 points and 7.4 rebounds per game as a freshman last season -- are in the fold for the Redhawks.

"I am very, very pleased with these two signings," Edgar said. "I think these two kids cannot only be upper-level OVC players, but they could be very good players in a lot more prestigious conferences."

Southeast has one more available scholarship to dole out during the spring signing period.

Edgar cannot get into specific players the Redhawks are looking at, but he said "we need size, some bulk, somebody to help Will and Calvin."

Edgar was referring to 6-10 freshman center Will Bogan and 6-9 sophomore forward Calvin Williams, who are the only non-seniors on the roster taller than 6-6.

Drew, Herring shine

Among the many players who had strong performances in Tuesday's win over Evansville of the Missouri Valley Conference, Jimmy Drew and Jaycen Herring stood out.

Drew, a sophomore guard who saw limited action last year, had his best performance in a Southeast uniform as he reached career highs for points with 12, rebounds with seven and assists with four.

Drew, who has started the last two games, added a pair of steals and did not commit a turnover. He said he feels much more comfortable this season than last year.

"Everything was going pretty fast for me last year," Drew said. "Now it's slowed down for me."

Herring, a junior swingman, led the Redhawks in scoring during their two exhibition games and hoped to continue his strong play during the Nov. 10 season opener at Xavier.

But Herring suffered a thumb injury on his shooting hand the day before the Xavier contest. He was limited during that game and the Nov. 14 matchup at Illinois State, then missed Friday's home opener with Culver-Stockton.

Herring returned to action against Evansville and scored 10 points, which equaled his combined output for the first two games.

As he did during the exhibition season, the athletic Herring scored in a variety of ways, including making 2-of-3 from 3-point range and ramming home a dunk.

"It was real frustrating [to sit out]," said Herring, who added of his thumb: "It's not at 100 percent, but it's good enough to play with."