St. John’s Hoops Land Three-Star LuHi Recurit Rafael Pinzon

Long Island Luthern’s (NY) Rafael Pinzon has verbally committed to St. John’s on Monday, today he Tweeted his decision.

Thank you to all of the schools and coaches that recruited me. Thank you to my family and supporters. Thank you Hasani Torres, my trainer. Thank you @nyjayhawks & @luhibasketball. I am 100% committed to the St. John’s Red Storm 🛑⛈‼️ pic.twitter.com/csiX5ZwH3S

— pinzón 🃏 (@andrxespinzon) September 14, 2020

The 6-foot-5, 175-pound shooting guard also including Florida and New Mexico in his final three school choices. But Pinzon, who also plays AAU ball with the NY Jayhawks, went with the Red Storm in the end.

Pinzon is a native of Puerto Rico and a three-star recruit who is the No. 187 overall player in the Class of 2021, the 40th ranked shooting guard, and the third-best player in the Empire State, per 247Sports.com.

The second to last school in the Big East Conference recruiting class of 2021, St. John’s needed to land a player of Pinzon’s caliber. The Red Storm also received a commitment from current LuHi senior teammate Drissa Traore, a Harlem native and another three-star player. 

Pinzon played in the 2019 CentroBasket U17 Championships and drained 16.2 points, grabbed 4.6 rebounds, and dished out 2.6 assists per contest on 49.2 percent shooting from the field and 50.0 percent shooting from behind the arc.

Those strong numbers should have Red Storm Hoops fans excited for Pinzon’s imminent arrival in the 2021-22 season.

— Jerry Del Priore