May 27, 2004
EASTON, Pa. (www.lafayette.edu) - Lafayette men's basketball head coach Fran O'Hanlon has acquired the commitments of five players who will join the Leopard basketball program as part of the Class of 2008. Members of that incoming class come from schools in five different states, including one student-athlete who originally hails from Ireland.
The incoming guards are Matt Betley (Mount Laurel, N.J./Lenape), Paul Cummins (Kildare, Ireland/South Kent School - Conn.) and Bilal Abdullah (Anchorage, Alaska/Tabor Academy). Betley was the South Jersey Player of the Year in his senior season of 2003-04. The 6-4, 195-pound guard averaged 15.2 points per game, scoring in double figures in 21 of his squad's 29 games. He also averaged 14 points and six assists per contest while leading Lenape High School to a Group 4 state title in New Jersey and a 28-1 record. The Betley name should be familiar to Lafayette loyals, as Matt's cousin, Pat Betley, will be entering his junior season after starting 25 games in 2003-04.
Cummins is a 6-2, 185-pound guard who comes to Lafayette by way of Connecticut, but is originally from Ireland. Cummins played the 2003-04 season at the South Kent School in Connecticut under head coach Raphael Chillious (Ralph Carter), a former Lafayette player under O'Hanlon. Cummins competed on a talented South Kent School prep squad that included five other players who committed to Division I programs. Cummins is a very accurate shooter who averaged 9.0 points, 5.5 rebounds and 3.0 assists per game.
Abudullah is a 6-5, 200-pound wing player who averaged 20 points and 11 rebounds per game for Tabor Academy in 2003-04. The Alaska native also chipped in six assists and two steals per game. He was the tournament MVP of the Kingdom of the Sun Tournament in Florida. Abdullah dropped in 34 points vs. Northfield-Mount Herman and netted 29 in the New England semifinals vs. Berkshire.
Abdullah was one of three players in the Tabor Academy program joining Division I programs with others headed to Providence and Cornell.
The Lafayette frontcourt, which suffered the loss of one four-year starter and another three-year starter, will be bolstered by O'Hanlon's signing of Ted Detmer (Scarsdale, N.Y./Scarsdale) and Everest Schmidt (Orleans, Calif./Hoopa Valley).
Detmer comes to Lafayette from Scarsdale (N.Y.) High School where he averaged 21 points and 11 rebounds per game as a senior captain. The 6-7, 198-pound forward earned all-league first-team, all county second-team and all-section honors. He led his squad to an 18-5 record and a regular-season conference title in 2003-04. His Scarsdale team then advanced to the sectional semifinals before losing to White Plains.
Schmidt is probably the biggest member of the recruiting Class of 2008, measuring in at 6-7, 250. He attended Hoopa Valley High School in Hoopa, California, a school on the Hoopa Valley Indian Tribe's reservation. In 2003-04 Schmidt led the Warriors to a three-way tie for the Humboldt Del Norte League Little Four championship and a berth into the North Coast Section Division V semifinals. The league MVP averaged 25 points, 14 rebounds and six blocks per game as a senior and dropped in a career-high 58 points vs. Hayfork.
In 2002-03, he was also the leading scorer on a Hoopa team that not only won the conference title and claimed the Division V North Coast Section championship but also qualified for the NorCal semifinals. He earned conference co-MVP honors in the process. Schmidt is the half brother of former Stanford center Tim Young.
"I feel very good about this recruiting class," O'Hanlon said. "Because of the quality of these five incoming players and due to our losses to graduation, these freshmen will have an opportunity to contribute immediately, especially on the perimeter."
Lafayette is coming off an 18-10 season when a senior-laden squad finished third in the Patriot League standings. One starter, Pat Betley, and two other players who competed in all 28 games, Marcus Harley and Sean Knitter, return for O'Hanlon who begins his 10th season at the helm of the Lafayette program.
