April 14, 2010
UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa.; April 14, 2010 - Penn State head coach Ed DeChellis announced the addition of 6-4, 185-pound shooting guard Tre Bowman (York, Pa.) to the Nittany Lion basketball program on the first day of the spring signing period Wednesday.
Bowman, who comes to Penn State after a year prepping at St. Thomas More School in Oakdale, Conn., is the first player to sign a national letter of intent to play for the Nittany Lions in the spring period and will join 6-2 guard Taran Buie (State College, Pa.), recently named to the PIAA Class AAAA All-State second-team after leading State College Area High School with 20.8 ppg, in the Nittany Lions' 2010 signing class. Penn State has two more scholarships available.
"Trey is a very good perimeter shooter and a terrific athlete that has experienced a high level of competition at St. Thomas More," DeChellis said. "He has excellent ball skills and is an extremely hard worker. He's coming from a top program where he got up at 6:30 every morning to shoot and is a real `gym rat.' He's a great kid with a great family and we think will be a perfect fit with our program."
Bowman, who will turn 19 in August, scored 17.0 ppg last season at St. Thomas More and earned second-team NEPSAC Class A honors. He helped lead the school, which will send six players to NCAA Division I programs this year, to the semifinals of the National Prep Championships. Bowman's 15-foot jumper at the buzzer propelled St. Thomas More to a one-point, overtime victory in the quarterfinals. Bowman had high games of 36 and 39 points on the year. He posted 36 points, nine rebounds and eight assists in a victory over Worcester Academy and out-dueled Will Barton, the nation's top rated shooting guard and a Memphis commitment, posting 21 points to Barton's 12 during a season meeting.
St. Thomas More has produced such Division I talents as current West Virginia standout Devin Ebanks and former Rutgers star Quincy Douby, who posted 32 points vs. the Nittany Lions in the first round of the 2006 NIT.
"In September, October, one day he'd be the best player in the gym, the next we wouldn't see him as much," said St. Thomas More's 32-year coach Jere Quinn in a January article in the York Daily record. "Since he's come back from Christmas, he's as good a player in New England as there is. "He came back from Christmas our most-motivated player," Quinn said. "Ever since, he's been our best offensive player."
Bowman was a standout at Central York High prior to attending prep school at St. Thomas Moore. At Central York, Bowman averaged 21.6 ppg as a senior in 2008-09 shooting 57 percent from the floor and posting 123 rebounds, 26 assists and 28 steals. Bowman posted a 14.4 ppg average with 45 assists, 38 steals and 15 blocks as a junior and posted 18 ppg with 54 assists as a sophomore at Central York. Bowman was the leading scorer in York/Adams County in 2009 and earned York/Adams County All-Star Team selection. He participated in the 2009 Reebok All-America Camp and earned All-Tournament team selection at the HoopGroup Summer Classic and at HoopGroup West Virginia. He was named to the York Daily Record YAIAA Division I second-team.
"It came down to Penn State, South Florida, Minnesota and Drexel," Bowman told the New England Recruiting Report. "I was planning to visit Drexel and South Florida, but I went to Penn State first and everything just felt right so I pulled the trigger."
Bowman also had interest from Boston College, Clemson, Nebraska, Seton Hall and Wake Forest among others.
-NITTANY LIONS-