LOS ANGELES – Cal State L.A.’s men’s basketball team, which qualified for the California Collegiate Athletic Association Championship Tournament for the second time in three years last season, has brought in five talented newcomers, Golden Eagle head coach Stephen Thompson has announced.
Franklin Session, a 6-3 guard from Weber State, David Norris, a 6-6 guard/forward from Sacramento State, Ryan Wetherell, a 5-11 guard from USC, Bussey Ellis, a 6-4 guard from Chaminade and Ozzie Morrison, a 6-7 forward/center from Barstow Junior College, have joined the Cal State L.A. program, Thompson said.
“I’m very excited about this incoming class,’ Thompson said. “They are a very talented group. We look for great contributions from all of them.”
Session comes to Cal State L.A. from Weber State, where he was named the 2009-10 Big Sky Conference Newcomer of the Year. He was the third-leading scorer on the team with 10.2 points per game and he had 16 double-figure scoring games and four double-doubles. He had a season-high 24 points in a win over Portland State and he had 14 points and a season-high 18 rebounds against Sacramento State. He was the 2009 Orange Empire Conference Most Valuable Player at Saddleback College as a sophomore and he helped lead Irvine Valley College to a conference championship as a freshman.
“Franklin is a dynamic athlete who really has an ability to score,” Thompson said. “He is a tenacious defender and an excellent rebounder for his size.”
Norris played in four games last year at Sacramento State before his season was cut short. He came to Sacramento State from Riverside Community College, where he helped lead the team to a state championship in 2009 and was the state tournament’s Most Valuable Player. He averaged 12.7 points and 8.3 rebounds during the tourney. He had five of his team-high 18 points in overtime to lead Riverside past Saddleback in the title game. He went to Norco High School, where he earned All-League and All-CIF honors as a senior. He averaged 20.0 points, 8.0 rebounds and 6.0 assists per game.
“David is a multi-dimensional player,” Thompson said. “He is really like having another point guard on the floor. He will fit in quite well in our system.”
Wetherell played for two seasons at USC before red-shirting in 2008-09 and also sitting out 2009-10. He appeared in a total of 30 games and played a total of 105 minutes. He scored a point in USC’s 77-60 win over Arkansas in the first round of the 2007 NCAA tournament, making one of two free throws. He played three years of varsity basketball at Sir Winston Churchill High School in Calgary, Alberta, Canada. He was the team Most Valuable Player as a senior after averaging 30 points and eight assists per game.
“Ryan brings a lot of experience to the point-guard position for us,” Thompson said. “He has a motor on him that never stops.”
Ellis played previously at UC Davis and Chaminade. As a freshman at Davis, he started 16 of 27 games at point guard and averaged 2.6 points, 1.5 assists and 1.5 rebounds per game. His best game came against Cal State Fullerton when he had 11 points, seven assists and four rebounds. He then appeared in five games for Chaminade in the 2007-08 season, starting four times. He earned All-CIF honors at JSerra High School and also received Long Beach Press-Telegram Best-in-the-West honorable mention and third-team All-Orange County recognition. He averaged 18 points per game and JSerra went 25-6 and advanced to the second semi-finals. Ellis was a McDonalds All-American nominee.
“Bussey has great size at the guard position,” Thompson said. “He has a great ability to see the floor and make others around him better.”
Morrison played for two seasons at Barstow Community College and averaged seven points and seven rebounds as a sophomore. He was the Most Improved Player as a senior at Barstow High School.
“Ozzie will bring an inside presence on both ends of the floor for our team,” Thompson said.
The five newcomers will join a strong nucleus of returning players. Cal State L.A. returns five players who started games last season, including sophomore Carl Hoffman, junior Leland Jones, senior Nuno Furtado, senior Chris Robinson and sophomore Trevor Hopkins. Hoffman was third on the team in scoring last season as a freshman with 9.6 points and 5.8 rebounds per game. Jones started all 28 games and was fourth on the team in scoring.
Cal State L.A. finished the 2009-10 season with a 14-14 record, including a road victory over eventual national champion Cal Poly Pomona.
Cal State L.A. will play exhibition games against Division I programs UC Riverside on Nov. 1, Cal State Fullerton on Nov. 6 and UCLA on Nov. 9 before opening the regular season with a home game against Holy Names on Monday, Nov. 15. The Golden Eagles will open CCAA play on Saturday, Nov. 27 at Cal State Dominguez Hills.