More on Carter

Back with more on guard Marquise Carter, who verbally committed to Gonzaga earlier today. My unedited article is below.

By Jim Meehan

jimm@spokesman.com; (208) 765-7131

Three Rivers Community College point guard Marquise Carter has verbally committed to the Gonzaga men’s basketball program.

The 6-foot-4, 180-pound Carter averaged 17.9 points, 5.5 assists and 4.3 rebounds for Three Rivers ( Poplar Bluff , Mo. ), which lost to Howard 85-80 in overtime in the NJCAA championship game. Carter was named NJCAA first-team All-American after earning second-team honors last season.

Carter made 43 percent of his field-goal attempts, 38 percent of 3-pointers and 85 percent at the free-throw line.

Carter visited Gonzaga’s campus two weeks ago. He is the first commitment of the Bulldogs’ 2010 class. Skyview High ( Nampa , Idaho ) guard Kyle Dranginis, who committed to Gonzaga in January, is in the 2011 class.

“My visit went really well,” said Carter, who played at Horizon High in San Diego . “I connected with the players and the coaches. I just felt like it was a place I needed to be. I feel by being there I can graduate, get my degree and be successful on the court.”

Carter said he had scholarship offers from Oklahoma and Wichita State . Carter’s older brother, Nate, played at UC-Riverside before transferring to Oklahoma for his final two seasons. He’s currently playing professionally in France .

“Everybody was telling me I needed to go on more visits, but my brother is a big influence on me and he gives me his opinion,” said Carter, who canceled his visit to Oklahoma after committing to the Bulldogs. “He told me if you go on a visit, you’ll feel it and you’ll know. When I went to Gonzaga, everything felt right for me.”

Carter led Three Rivers to a 30-7 record, including the 1,100 ^th career win for 40-year head coach Gene Bess. The Raiders won the Region 16 title and defeated Monroe , Northwest Florida and Navarro at the NJCAA Tournament before falling in the title game. Carter scored 35 points against Howard and was the tournament’s second-leading scorer at 22.8 points per game.

“He’s really hard to guard 1-on-1,” said Three Rivers assistant coach Brian Bess, Gene’s son. “He shoots it well enough, a set 3-point shot that keeps you honest, and he’s really good on runners, floaters, in-between shots, and at getting to the basket and finishing.”

Gonzaga loses guard Matt Bouldin and returns back-court starters Steven Gray and Demetri Goodson.

“I think they see him as a guy that can come in and push the ball up and get them into their offense,” Bess said.

Carter redshirted his first season at Three Rivers. As a freshman, he averaged 14.5 points and 4.5 assists.

“I really like to get to the basket and I can shoot the ball pretty well, but I like getting my teammates involved,” Carter said. “I try to get the ball to the players who can finish.”