May 26, 2003

LAS VEGAS - Jerel Blassingame, a 5-foot-10 point guard from Los Angeles City College, has signed a national letter of intent to enroll at UNLV and play basketball for the Runnin' Rebels next season, head coach Charlie Spoonhour announced Monday.

Blassingame, who will be a junior at UNLV this fall, was a teammate of fellow Runnin' Rebel signee Romel Beck. Their team finished 36-2 overall in 2002-03 and won the California state championship title.

Blassingame was named most valuable player at the California state tournament and averaged 12 points and six assists per game during the season. He was an All-South Coast Conference selection last season.

As a freshman at LACC, Blassingame averaged 16 points and five assists per game and was named to the all-tournament team in the California state playoffs. His freshman season, LACC was 30-9 and lost in the championship game of the state tournament. He was All-South Coast Conference as a freshman as well.

"Jerel is a great leader who is very good at distributing the ball and organizing the offense," Spoonhour said. "He can also be a very capable scorer when that is needed. Jerel is a winner who was the starting point guard on a team that won 66 games and went to two state championship games the last two years. He has been very well-coached and has made the players around him better."