David Laury, a 6-foot-8, 230-pound power forward from West Orange, N.J., has verbally committed to Iona beginning in 2010.

Iona beat out Houston and TCU for Laury, who had initially signed a National of Letter  to Western Kentucky. Because he already signed one NLI, Laury just made a verbal commitment to Iona.

“Yes, I did [Sunday],” Laury said by phone. “I liked the coaching staff. They’ve been recruiting me for a long time and I got a good relationship with all the coaches there, especially [assistant] Coach Shaheen [Holloway].”

Laury is currently playing for Ocean Academy out of Deal, N.J., where he is taking an SAT Prep class. Ocean coach Mike Rodgers said St. John’s and Providence were among the other schools interested in Laury because of his skill-set.

“He’s a legit four who can play the three and the two,” Rodgers said. “He’s very skilled. He’s a strong reobunder, great passer. He shoots it very, very well from deep. He has a tremendous basketball IQ.

“He would’ve been recruited by everyone in the country.”

Laury said he has a 2.31 GPA and needs a 2.35. He may opt to re-take the SAT.

Laury, 19, spent a week and a half at Western Kentucky over the summer but returned home because he wasn’t comfortable there. 

“It wasn’t the place for me and it was honestly too far from home for me,” he said.

Now he joins an Iona squad that has done a tremendous job of recruiting the New York/New Jersey area.

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