Pemberton Picks Hofstra

New England Recruiting Report | Monday, October 19th, 2015

Elijah Pemberton 2016

Cheshire Academy guard Elijah Pemberton made a verbal commitment to Hofstra on Tuesday night, giving head coach Joe Mihalich an immediate impact player next year in the CAA.

Pemberton made a brief commitment to another CAA school, William & Mary, last month before changing his mind a few days later and seemed bound to take his recruitment to an even higher level when East Carolina came calling with an offer from the American Conference earlier this fall. 

Ultimately though, Pemberton settled upon a final four of William & Mary, Hofstra, Northeastern and St. Bonaventure before deciding on the Pride.

A highly athletic 6-foot-4 swingman who has improved by leaps and bounds in the last 15 months, Pemberton showed off a much improved skill set last year at the Master's School, becoming a good mid-range shooter and a threat out to the three-point line. This year he appears poised to take another dramatic step forward as he takes on more ball-handling responsibilities and even spends some time at the point for Cheshire.

A two year product of the New York Lightning, Pemberton follows in the footsteps of his former EYBL teammate Desure Buie, currently a freshman point guard at Hofstra, who is also expected to make an immediate impact for the Pride. 

Pembertonis the third Cheshire Academy product to commit to a division I school in the class of 2016 and second in as many days following Ray Jerome's pledge to Penn on Sunday and Jose Martinez' commitment to San Diego earlier in the fall.