Terry Dawn got a great birthday present. The day after he turned 18, Dawn went to Central Washington University for a visit. Later that day the leading scorer in Arlington basketball history was offered a scholarship to play basketball for the Wildcats.
It took two days of mulling over before Dawn announced his decision on Wednesday by tweeting out a picture from the 2013 state basketball tournament with a CWU logo and the words “2013 Commit” plastered over it.
“It’s so nice to know where I’m going next year,” Dawn said. “I can just relax and not worry about it. Not knowing really wasn’t fun. It was kind of stressful. I like knowing what I’m going to be doing in the future so I can plan for it.”
Dawn knew the coaches and campus at Central having attended several basketball camps there the past four years. He hadn’t really talked to the coaches a whole lot in the recruiting process, but said they chatted with Eagles’ head coach Nick Brown about a team camp and casually asked about Dawn, who didn’t know where he was going.
Soon after, Dawn was visiting Central.
“Congrats to Terry Dawn,” Brown said in a tweet Wednesday. “Signed with CWU to play in E-burg. Could not be more proud. TD has done an incredible job of representing A-town.”
The senior became the leading scorer in the history of Arlington hoops at this year’s state tournament, while leading the Eagles to a fifth place finish, the best ever for the boys’ program. The versatile 6-foot-5 guard/forward was also looking at Whitworth and Western Washington University, where he was invited to walk-on.
In the end, Dawn chose Central, where he will be utilized as a guard, because it was the best opportunity and in an area he was familiar with.
“I have family in Eastern Washington in Wenatchee who I’m really close with,” Dawn said. “And I’ve spent a lot of time in Cle Elum, right next to (Ellensburg). I grew up there so I’m familiar with the area.”
The Eagle will join former Monroe Bearcat Joey Roppo who also plays at Central. Dawn said he didn’t believe the original plan was for him to be redshirted, but after the Central coaching staff discovered how young he was, they mentioned maybe giving Dawn a little extra time before his first game. “I don’t think originally he wanted to redshirt me, but when I visited Monday he found out that birthday was that Sunday,” Dawn said. “So he figured out that I was a really young senior and I think he was starting to think he wanted to redshirt me because I was so young. Still not sure what will happen, but I’ll do whatever.
“I’m just excited to be a Wildcat.”
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