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Herd lands another Fla. recruit

April 22, 2008 @ 12:49 AM

RICK McCANN

The Herald-Dispatch

HUNTINGTON -- Fort Lauderdale Dillard, the No. 15 boys high school basketball team in the National Prep Poll, is sending two players to Marshall.

Dillard went 29-2 and won the Florida Class 5A championship with an inside game that included Marshall men's basketball recruits Nigel Spikes and Kore White. Marshall announced the signing of Spikes on Monday. White signed last week.

The Panthers also had 6-7 Bo Reliford who has recruiting offers for basketball and football.

"Some people were saying we were the best high school front line in the country," White said.

The 6-foot-10 Spikes averaged 10 points, nine rebounds and three blocked shots. The Miami Herald newspaper placed him on their All-Broward County 6A-4A team honorable mention list.

Spikes had eight points in the state finals victory over Lakeland. He was shooting 50.6 percent at the free throw line and made 6 of 6.

Other schools in the recruiting hunt for Spikes included Missouri and Kansas State.

"Nigel is a long, athletic face-up player with a tremendous upside," said Marshall head coach Donnie Jones. "He will be very good for our program as he adds strength and experience."

White, a 6-8 forward, and Marshall recruit Shaquille Johnson, a 6-3 guard at Robert E. Lee High School in Jacksonville, were named to the Class 5A all-state first team selected by the Florida Sports Writers Association.

Johnson, the Class 5A state player of the year, finished third in voting for the Florida Dairy Farmers Mr. Basketball award.

The Thundering Herd's other recruit is 5-10 point guard Damier Pitts from Charlotte, N.C., who led Hargrave Military Academy (Va.) to the national prep school tournament championship.

Also joining the team next season is 6-10, 300-pound Marcus Goode, an academic non-qualifier from Prosperity, S.C. Goode is already enrolled.