MIDDLEBURY — Vermont’s top high school basketball player, Missisquoi Valley Union senior Matt St. Amour, has decided to attend Middlebury College and play for Coach Jeff Brown’s successful men’s basketball program, according to a Tuesday night online report on www.burlingtonfreepress.com.
According to Middlebury College sports information director Brad Nadeau, college officials “cannot comment at this time.”
St. Amour has been a top recruiting target for Brown and his assistants for months, even years, and Brown has even attended a Middlebury Union High School baseball game when the Tigers hosted MVU.
According to the Free Press, St. Amour could have accepted a walk-on roster spot at the University of Vermont, but had no guarantee of a scholarship. Other options reportedly included Tufts, Babson and Siena.
As an NCAA Division III school, Middlebury College does not offer athletic scholarships. But almost half of its students receive financial aid on an as-needed basis, as determined by the school’s financial aid department.
St. Amour, a six-foot-four shooting guard, also might also have a better shot at playing time at a program that has enjoyed unprecedented success in recent years.
The team’s graduating seniors — two guards, Jake Wolfin and Nolan Thompson, and forward Peter Lynch — made four trips to the NCAA D-III tournament and earned a school-record 103 wins.
St. Amour is a two-time Vermont Gatorade Player of the Year who averaged 30.7 points, 11.9 rebounds, 5.7 assists and 3.4 steals per game as a senior. An excellent student, he is also a soccer and baseball standout who, according to the Free Press, has not entirely ruled out playing a second sport in college.
St. Amour is the second top Vermont athlete to commit to Middlebury this year. This past fall, Vermont Gatorade Football Player of the Year Jake Stalcup, a Burr & Burton senior quarterback, also chose Middlebury.