WEST PLAINS, Mo. – The coaching staff of the Missouri State University-West Plains Grizzly Basketball team have finalized their 2012-13 recruiting class with the signing of Novian Cherry, a 6-foot, 4-inch guard from San Diego, Calif.

“Novian completes our recruiting class nicely,” Grizzly Basketball Head Coach Yancey Walker said.  “He has competed against some of the best high school players in the nation, so that experience should help him compete in his time here.”

Cherry averaged 14 points, five rebounds and three assists during his senior season with ABCD Prep School in Dallas, Texas.

“He’s a good passer and an efficient shooter from the three,” Walker said.

Cherry also was recruited by the Grizzlies’ Region 16 arch rival Three Rivers Community College in Poplar Bluff, Mo., as well as Arizona Western College in Yuma, Coffeyville (Kan.) Community College, and San Jacinto College in Pasadena, Texas.

Cherry joins 6-foot, 5-inch guard Desmond Buerge of Carthage, Mo.; 6-foot, 1-inch guard Wesley Staten of Sioux City, Iowa; 6-foot, 5-inch guard Arroyo Edwards of Milwaukee, Wis.; 6-foot, 5-inch guard Jonathan Tshibuy of Montreal, Canada; 6-foot, 3-inch guard Devaugntah Williams of Canton, Ohio; 6-foot, 3-inch guard Delvonte Pierre of Lawton, Okla.; 6-foot, 11-inch forward Aleinocov Azulphar of Norwalk, Conn.; 6-foot, 2-inch Desmond Dorsey from Jeffersontown High School in Louisville, Ky.; 6-foot, 8-inch forward Ed Seay of Merrillville, Ind.; 6-foot, 5-inch BJ McLaughlin of Hazelwood Central High School in St. Louis, Mo.; Malik London, a 6-foot, 8-inch power forward from Chillicothe, Ohio; Isiah Rogers, a 5-foot, 9-inch point guard from Gahanna, Ohio; and Aaron Orchard, a 6-foot, 6-inch walk-on forward from Rogersville, Mo. for the Grizzlies’ freshman class this season.

Serving as elder statesmen for the Grizzlies’ 2012-13 season are sophomores Keaton Jackson, a 6-foot, 9-inch forward from Vancouver, Wash.; and Kris Frazier, a 6-foot, 7-inch forward from Cleveland, Ohio, who joined the team in January.

For more information about the Grizzly Basketball program, visit the team’s website at http://www.wp.missouristate.edu/grizzly/bb.htm or call the Grizzly Basketball office at 417-255-7993.