3 sign with UCI hoops

Ryan Staker, Eric Wise and Adam Folker have signed national of letters of intent to play for the UC Irvine men’s basketball team, Anteaters Coach Pat Douglass recently announced.

The 6-foot-8 Staker played last season at Central Arizona College, where he led the Arizona Community College Athletic Conference in rebounding with a 12.7 average. An all-conference selection for the Vaqueros, he averaged 15.4 points and 2.7 blocked shots per game. Staker shot 56.8% from the field for Coach Chuck Schnoor’s team.

A product of Centennial High in Las Vegas, he played one season at Yakima Valley College in Washington before transferring to Central Arizona.

“Ryan is an outstanding rebounder and post defender,” Douglass said in a release. “His contributions will help make up for the loss of Darren Fells due to graduation.”

Wise, a 6-5 forward, was named Riverside County Player of the Year by the Press-Enterprise after averaging 20.4 points and 9.3 rebounds at Riverside King High. He recorded 18 double-doubles and shot 61% from the field en route to first team All-Ivy League honors.

Wise was named the CIF Southern Section Division 1A Player of the Year for Coach Tim Sweeney’s club that finished 32-3 overall.

Wise is the son of former Long Beach State All-American Francois Wise, who is the 49ers’ career leader in rebounds with 896 boards from 1976-80 in addition to scoring 1,305 points.

“Eric has been a key player for one of the outstanding teams in Southern California,” Douglass said. “Due to his intensity and ability, he is able to score on post players or quick, perimeter players. He has a bright future at the collegiate level.”

The 6-8 Folker averaged 31 points, 12 rebounds, eight assists and four blocked shots for Coach Andrew Bos at Markham District High in Markham, Ontario. The two-time team MVP scored 50 points against Roberts at the Pickering Tournament and a tourney-record 44 against Samford at the Bishop Ludden Tournament in New York.

He was named to the Greater Toronto Area (GTA) “Fab Five” list by the Toronto Star, recorded the highest number of 25-plus scoring games (30) in the GTA and was selected to the All-Ontario first team, the All-Ontario Academic team and All-Canadian first team.

“Adam is a very versatile offensive player who can play inside or out,” Douglass said. “He was a prolific scorer in high school and could see significant playing time as a freshman.”

Staker, Wise and Folker bring UCI’s total of signings to six with three committing in the November period, including Darren Moore, Zack Atkinson and Aaron England.

Moore, a 6-2 guard played this past season on the state-championship team at Citrus College. He was selected first team all-state and was named to the all-tournament team at the state championship. Moore averaged 17.8 points in league play and was named co-MVP of the Western State Conference South Division.

Citrus won the state title, defeating Fullerton College 72-67 in the championship game at Stockton to finish the season 35-1 overall. Moore averaged 14.1 points and led the team with 72 steals. He shot 48% from the field (36% on three-pointers). Moore played at Northern Colorado the previous season.

Atkinson, a 6-9 post player from Feather River College in Quincy, was unanimously voted to the 2008 Golden Valley Conference All-Defensive Team for the second straight season. Atkinson, a product of Lee Central High in Bishopville, S.C., was second in the state community colleges in blocked shots with a 4.0 average.

Atkinson set the Feather River single-game record for blocking shots with 13 against the College of the Redwoods. In that game, Atkinson notched his third career triple-double as a Golden Eagle, scoring 17 points and collecting 12 rebounds.

England, a 6-5 guard, started all 29 games and shot 38 percent from three-point range in his only season at College of Eastern Utah after redshirting at Utah State the previous year.

He earned 2005-06 first team all-state honors from the Salt Lake Tribune at Cyprus High in West Valley, Utah, where he averaged 15.4 points, 4.3 rebounds and 4.0 assists as a senior. The two-time team MVP played in Utah’s 5A-4A All-Star game after his senior season.

“These six players make up what I consider to be an exceptional recruiting class,” Douglass said.

— From staff reports