By Eric Trent
Sophomore basketball stand- outs Deonte Dixon and Ryley Callaghan will be heading to op- posite ends of the country after signing letters of intent to play at universities in Florida and Ha- waii, respectively.
“These guys have all put in a lot of hard work, both in the classroom and on the court,” Head Coach Mitch Freeman said.
“We are extremely proud to help them in some way with their success!
“We will have eight guys walk in June for graduation!”
Dixon, a Second Team All-Region selection, will be taking his talents to South Beach; well, almost.
Dixon, who led Peninsula in scoring with 15.4 points per game, signed with Ave Maria University located in southwest Florida, less than two hours west of Miami.
“It’s a blessing knowing that I’m going somewhere else,” Dixon said. “I know that it was a blessing playing at Peninsula as well.
“Some people don’t even get this opportunity, so I’m thankful and blessed.”
Ave Maria’s Head Coach John Lamanna is also looking forward to having Dixon in Florida.
“We are so excited and blessed to have Deonte joining our university and basketball program!,” Lamanna said. “I wouldn’t ultimately say we chose Deonte, but more importantly, out of all of the options Deonte had, he chose us.”
“What caught our attention about Deonte was his ability to score the basketball in different ways,” He said.
“Deonte is going to provide us versatility that we have not had on our roster,” Lamanna said. “Besides his basketball ability and talent, it was Deonte’s character that made him our no. 1 recruiting goal.”
Callgahan, the 2016 North Region MVP, heads to the University of Hawaii at Hilo, after averaging 14.7 points per game for Peninsula. Hilo finished last season at 9-15 overall in the Pacific West Coast Conference.