Men's Basketball adds 4 freshman to the fold

Men's basketball has announced the signings of freshman Nathan Bond of Elliot Christian High School in Lodi, Calif., Matt Essien out of Etiwanda High in Rancho Cucamongo, Calif., Roman Dimapilis from Chaparral High in Temecula, Calif., and Nikhil Shastri of Miramonte High School in Orinda, Calif. for the upcoming 2018-2019 season.

The young bunch will replenish a Keelahuler roster that had six players move on due to graduation or transfer.

Bond is an impact player who will look to add depth at the "two" position with his catch and shoot talent pairing well with his up-tempo game and the ability to push the ball. The Lodi native averaged 20.3 points and five rebounds per game while shooting 38% from behind the arc in his senior season at Elliot Christian High, where he was a four-year starter for the Eagles.

Bond is eager to join the team, and is looking forward to his tenure at Cal Maritime.

"I think Maritime is an incredible school," said Bond. "Academically, job wise, the connections I'll be able to make, and just the overall atmosphere of the campus. I can't wait."

Shastri is coming off a senior year at Miramonte in which he was rehabbing a torn meniscus for majority of the season. However, he did play in the final eight contests and averaged just over 10 points per game. Shastri is applauded for his defensive ability and communication on and off the court.

Dimapilis is an explosive player out of Charparral High with excellent speed, awareness, and scoring capability.

Both players should mesh well up top with junior guard Josh Hauser, who led the team with 67 assists and was third in points per game with 12. They will add some versatility spreading out the floor in addition to playing vital roles on the defensive side of the ball, preferably rebounding as the Keelhaulers ranked near the bottom of every rebounding category.

Essien is a proven winner and will bring that presence with him as the 6-foot-2, 176-pound forward attended Etiwanda High, which is the 27th-ranked school in the nation and 5th-ranked in California. The incoming freshman is more than ready to come together with his teammates and sprinkle some of his success to the team.

"Cal Maritime will have some of its best seasons in these next four years," Essien said. "All of the signees are coming here to win."

Believe it or not though, the most excited of them all isn't actually any of the signees, it's their coach.

"I'm excited for this freshmen group," Head Coach Brendan Rooney said. "I feel like this is a deep group of guys that have the ability to stretch the floor, play multiple positions and keep around for four years of development."

Coach Rooney likes the fit of his players as cadets at Cal Maritime as much as he does as players on the floor.

"The big over-arching thing is we feel like all of the guys we brought in are our type of guys," Rooney said. "We saw that when they were around our guys in our program already. That's something we never want to sacrifice as a culture or the type of guy we have. That's what we feel like we have with these guys and I'm excited to see the progress of all of them going forward."

This core of freshman will look to add an exciting brand of basketball. Perhaps even replicate that of the 2015-16 team, who was arguably one the best teams Cal Maritime has had, and the second one to reach the Sweet 16 in the NAIA national Tournament, while having three First Team All- Conference and two Second Team All-Conference players. All four of these recruits are very capable and have the potential, both offensively and defensively, to become elite players and possibly bring Maritime to its first National Championship.

Maritime will be seeking their 8th Conference Championship in the past 10 years and a trip back to the NAIA National Tournament, which they last reached in the 2015-16 season.