David Laury will not play this season at Garden City CC in Kansas. The East Orange, NJ native will head to New Rochelle, NY and play for Tim Cluess and the Iona Gaels. Laury will have to sit a full year due to residency requirements after transferring in January. Laury will be eligible to play for the Gaels in January of 2013. He will have two and half years of eligibility once he gets on the court.
Laury is a 6-foot-8, 240-pound forward who is extremely physical in the post. Laury loves to grind in the paint and has the ability to take a hit and finish through contact. He handles the ball well for his size and is an excellent passer out of the high post. Laury played last season at Lamar State-Port Arthur before transferring to Garden City CC during the off-season. As a freshman at Lamar State-Port Arthur he averaged 16 points, 9 rebounds and 3 assists per game while shooting 60 percent from the field.
Jared Grasso, who was recently promoted to Associate Head Coach at Iona, was instrumental in Laury’s recruitment. It’s not a surprise when Grasso, who is known as a tireless recruiter, is the main reason a player decides to play for Iona. Along with bringing in many quality high school recruits, Grasso has found his niche in the junior college ranks.
Grasso left Fordham and teammed up with the newly hired Cluess in April of 2010. In only 18 months the new Iona staff has been able to bring in the following JUCO recruits: Mike Glover (College of Eastern Utah), Randy Dezouvre (Monroe College), Taaj Ridley (Lawson State) and Diggs Moikobu (Cochise). They have a commitment from 2012 prospect Da’Shawn Gomez (Antelope Valley CC) and have now added David Laury.
Glover was the first junior college recruit that Cluess and Grasso were able to get their hands in the spring of 2010. It’s safe to say that Glover has “panned” out for the Gaels. He was the leading scorer (18.4 ppg) and rebounder (10.1) in the MAAC last season. Glover was recently selected as the MAAC’s Preseason Player of the Year and Iona was picked to win the conference. Glover was also one of fifty players selected as a Preseason Wooden Award Candidate, which is given annually to the best college basketball player in the country. He is the only junior college transfer in his class to be named a Wooden Award Candidate.
The Gaels will lose Glover after this season, but you better believe Cluess/Grasso and company will be scouring the JUCO ranks searching for a replacement.
