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Commit
Woodstock Academy prep basketball players Lawrence Foreman., left, and Joseph Moon, committed to play Division I basketball next season. Photo by Marc Allard.
Two members of the Woodstock Academy prep basketball team verbally committed to Division I colleges over the weekend.
Post player Lawrence Foreman will compete for Rider University in Lawrenceville, N.J., next season while guard Joseph Moon will take a short 45-minute ride along Rt. 44 to Bryant University in Smithfield, R.I.
They join Cairo McCroy who had already verbally committed to play for UMass before coming to Woodstock Academy.
Centaurs prep basketball coach Jacque Rivera said the key for him is “fit” and both Moon and Foreman do that with the programs they have chosen.
“Joe likes to get up-and-down, he’s a guard who can play on and off the ball. In terms of fit. I’m not sure we’ve had a better fit up to this point with the program,” Rivera said. “Joe is an extremely humble kid and Bryant is a great education. It also gives him an opportunity to live outside his region. We did our job here at Woodstock Academy. I think it’s a match made in heaven and the cool thing for me as a coach is that he will be 45 minutes down the road so we will get a chance to continue to support him.”
Moon, who hails from Detroit, was a runner up for Mr. Basketball in Michigan. He averaged 25-plus points and six assists per game in high school.
Moon said he went on an official visit to Bryant and the Bulldogs coaching staff and players made him feel at home.
“I like the campus. I like the program and I like the coach’s style of play. It’s run-and-gun and very tough fullcourt defense,” Moon said as to the determining factor of playing at Bryant.
Moon said Bryant had always been high on his list, but what he truly wanted was an opportunity to play at the next level so when it was offered, he accepted.
Moon said academically he would like to pursue a biology degree, specifically, marine biology.
Foreman is an up-and-comer with room to grow.
The Kingston, Jamaica native has played organized basketball for a little less than three years.
He was more into soccer and chess on the island until he was 15-years-old and began to grow.
He spurted to 6-foot, 5-inches at that time and is now 6-9.
“Everybody was like, ‘You should play,’ and I did,” Foreman said with a laugh.
Foreman came to the U.S. and played for Windsor High School.
It was at Windsor that Rider assistant coach Marlon Guild saw him.
Guild went to Windsor to recruit guard Corey McKeithan who has also committed to play for Rider.
Guild followed Foreman to Woodstock Academy.
“He said to me that Lawrence has improved a lot over a short period of time. A week later, head coach Kevin Baggett paid a visit and offered him a scholarship,” Rivera said.
Foreman went on an official visit and told Baggett he was going to play for Rider during that visit.
“I just felt at home and coach Baggett and coach Guild treated me like family. I liked the environment. I will be reunited with my former point guard at Windsor and that was a plus, too,” Foreman said. “The coaches talked about how the professors work closely with the students and the players, even when the coaches weren’t around, talked highly of the program. It’s a dream come true. I come from Kingston, Jamaica, we don’t have much over there. Coming here, making it happen and going to college for free is a big deal.”
Foreman is looking at a criminal justice major.
“Lawrence has a high ceiling, a bright future, and he gets to go and play as a freshman with his high school point guard (McKeithan is a senior at Windsor this year). A lot of the stars are aligning for him,” Rivera said.
The Woodstock Academy coach added that post-graduate players verbally committing to schools in the fall is a good way to go.
“In my experience, if you have an opportunity to commit in the fall as a post-grad, it’s the right decision for a lot of reasons. You’ve worked so hard to obtain a scholarship and now you get the opportunity to maintain it and enjoy your respective sport, not that you’re going to step back, and not work as hard or work harder. You get to enjoy this time. I’ve seen kids who don’t commit and it becomes a stressful time for them. You’re in a constant state of playing a numbers game when it comes to scholarships,” Rivera said.
Marc Allard
Director of Sports Information
The Woodstock Academy
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