RECRUITING: Cimarron’s Olekaibe chooses Fresno State

Cimarron-Memorial guard Kevin Olekaibe made a case for himself as a possible Division I basketball prospect as a junior.

His senior year made it a certainty.

Olekaibe gave an oral commitment to Fresno State on Tuesday. Though the spring signing period began Wednesday, the 6-foot-1-inch sharpshooter plans to sign with the Bulldogs on Friday.

He also had scholarship offers from Boise State and Texas-El Paso, and North Texas and San Francisco had offered earlier in the recruiting process.

“From my (March) visit, I knew it was a good place,” Olekaibe said of Fresno State. “I had fun with the players there. I liked the gym, the weight training program, and their coaches are good people.”

Olekaibe emerged as Cimarron’s leading scorer as a junior, averaging 22.7 points.

As a senior, he led the state with a clip of 34.3 points, adding 6.9 rebounds and 4.6 assists to carry the Spartans (21-10) to the Sunset Region semifinals.

Olekaibe said Fresno State envisions him as a point guard. He played mostly shooting guard in high school.

“The offensive system is fast,” he said. “They want a point guard who can score in transition or set somebody up, and I can do those things. They run a lot of ball screens, and I’m good off ball screens.”

Other uncommitted local seniors continued to weigh their options Wednesday.

Bishop Gorman coach Grant Rice said point guard Johnathan Loyd will visit George Washington this weekend and is considering offers from Michigan State, Northwestern, Oklahoma and Southern Methodist.

Findlay Prep assistant coach Todd Simon said post Godwin Okonji will visit Loyola Marymount and guard Marko Petrovic will take a trip to San Francisco the weekend of April 23. Okonji also has offers from Hawaii, Missouri, New Mexico and Texas Tech.

Foothill guard Evan Roquemore said he hopes to visit Ball State soon. He also has offers from Air Force and Eastern Washington.

Spring Valley forward Justin Omogun said he will visit Eastern Washington this weekend and has an offer from Cal State Bakersfield.

Coronado coach Paul Berg said post Brandon Glanz will visit Idaho State this weekend.

Legacy forward Samuel Johnson recently signed with Casper College (Wyo.), and Liberty post Ashante Ross signed with Miles College (Mont.).

Girls basketball seniors to make recent commitments include Sierra Vista guard Teena Baxter (New Mexico Highlands) and Mountain View forward Zari Riley (Bethany University, Calif.).

Seniors who made recent commitments in other sports include Gorman girls tennis player Anita Lee (Southern Illinois), Arbor View outfielder Nick Urban (Dixie State, Utah) and Palo Verde girls soccer player Heather Pfister (Adams State, Colo.).

RICE HONORED — Rice was selected to coach the U.S. All-Stars team against the Capital All-Stars in the Captial Classic High School All-Star Game at American University in Washington, D.C., Thursday.

No players from Nevada are involved in the game, which is scheduled to tip off at 5 p.m.