Five Players Added To Men's Basketball Program

Roster Grows To 16 For 2006-07 Season

Aug. 29, 2006

CLEVELAND, Ohio -- One day after classes officially began for fall semester at Cleveland State University, Viking men's basketball coach Gary Waters finalized his roster for the 2006-07 season by announcing the addition of five players to the CSU basketball program.

Joining the Vikings are junior college transfers Kevin Francis (Toronto, Ont./Vincennes CC) and Breyhon Watson (Flint, MI/Mott CC), both of whom will be eligible to play this season.

Rounding out the newcomers are transfers Cedric Jackson (Columbus, NJ/Northern Burlington) from St. John's, Chris Moore (Lakewood, OH/St. Edward) from UC Santa Barbara and George Tandy (Indianapolis, IN/North Central) from Eastern Illinois, each of whom will have to sit out the 2006-07 season to meet NCAA transfer guidelines.

All five players will have two seasons of eligibility remaining when they each become eligible.

"I'm excited about the quality of these five individuals and what they will be able to bring to the Viking Basketball program," Waters said. "Each of them is here because they address a need of the program, either this year or next.

"Kevin Francis and Breyhon Watson will help us to improve our depth this year while the three transfers will help to give us some experience next year after we lose our four seniors."

Francis, a 6-8, 230-pound forward, came off the bench to average 7.0 points and 4.3 rebounds as a sophomore at Vincennes CC. A member of the Canadian Junior National team, he averaged 14.7 points and and 5.8 rebounds as a freshman at North Dakota College of Science.

Watson, a 6-3, 170, guard, was a two-year regular at Mott CC, playing his freshman season with current Viking Carlos English. He averaged 5.1 points coming off the bench as a freshman and increased those numbers to 6.4 points a game last year

Jackson, a 6-2, 190, guard, averaged 4.4 points and 3.3 rebounds in 24 minutes a game this past year at St. John's, starting 10 of the 27 games that he played in. Ranked as one of the top 200 players in the nation by PrepStars as a senior, he earned first team all-state honors after averaging 26.0 points a game. A prolific scorer in high school, he averaged 24.5 ppg as a junior and 21.7 ppg as a sophomore.

Tandy, a 6-8, 195, center, was named the 2004-05 Ohio Valley Conference Freshman of the Year at Eastern Illinois after averaging 6.4 points, 5.1 rebounds and 1.5 blocks a game. He came back this past season to start all 27 games for the Panthers, averaging 9.0 points and a team-high 7.1 rebounds with 29 blocks. He played his senior year of high school at Cleveland's Lincoln West High, averaging 20 points, 15 rebounds and 10 blocks a game to earn honorable mention all-state honors.

Moore, a 6-9, 240, center, averaged 1.5 points and 0.9 rebounds in limited action at UC Santa Barbara last season. He was a first team All-Ohio selection as a senior at Lakewood St. Edward High School, averaging 21.5 points, 10.9 rebounds and 6.0 blocks per game as a senior, helping the Eagles to the championship game of the state tournament.

The five players are joined by sophomore Tristan Crawford (Steelton, PA/Highspire) and freshman Joe Davis (Warrensville Heights, OH), each of whom joined the program earlier this summer and will be eligible this year.

The seven newcomers brings the 2006-07 roster to 16 players, 13 of whom will be eligible to play this season.

The Vikings begin preseason practice on Friday, Oct. 13 and open the 2006-07 season at home against George Mason on Saturday, Nov. 11 beginning at 3:00 p.m. in the Wolstein Center.

Season tickets and ticket packages are available by contacting the CSU Athletic Ticket office at (216) 687-4848.