James Makes Pledge

In his first varsity game, as a sophomore, Anthony James scored 30 points. But in the three seasons since that game, James has worked hard to prove to Division I college basketball coaches that he is more than just a scorer.

That hard work paid off last week when James, a senior at Normandy High School in suburban St. Louis, committed to continue his career at Northern Iowa next season.

The 6-foot-1, 170-pound shooting guard picked the Panthers over Texas-San Antonio and Eastern Illinois.

“The reason I picked Northern Iowa was because I had a real good connection with the coaching staff,” James said. “They’d been to a number of my basketball games and they really like the way that I play. That was the top school that was recruiting me.”

James averaged 20.7 points per game and made 56.5 percent of his 3-pointers (61 of 108) this season as Normandy went 20-6.

He averaged 19.2 points per game as a junior and 16.7 as a sophomore.

The Normandy product is the fifth member of UNI coach Ben Jacobson’s recruiting class for next season.

The Panthers signed point guard John Moran and forwards Austin Pehl and Jake Koch in November, and Kirkwood Community College sophomore point guard Ali Farokhmanesh committed in February.

“They want me to come in and play the two guard,” James said. “I was real happy about that. I like playing the two. I’m a scorer and I’m going to be able to do that on the next level also.”