May 12, 2003

BOCA RATON - The Florida Atlantic University men's basketball team has signed three junior college players, all having the potential to contribute right away, announced head coach Sidney Green, Monday afternoon. Mike Bell will come to FAU from Palm Beach Community College, Darren Dickerson from Southeastern Illinois Community College and Pierre Tucker from PBCC.

Bell is a 6-9 forward from Raleigh, NC, who spent last season at Palm Beach Community College in Lake Worth, FL. While there, he led the team in scoring (20.7ppg), rebounding (12.7rpg) and blocks (3.5bpg). Bell was sixth in the state in scoring while third and fourth in rebounding and blocks, respectively. He was also fifth in the state in three-point shooting (.435) and 11th in field goal percentage (.579).

Honors for Bell during the 2002-03 season included being a member of the All-Southern Conference Team and a runner up finish for the conference player-of-the-year award.

Bell will be a junior next season for the Owls. He initially attended North Carolina State University as a freshman, but red-shirted his first year there. After his second season, he transferred to PBCC.

Bell attended Enloe High School in Raleigh where he averaged 18 points, 12 rebounds, seven blocks, and five assists as a senior. He averaged 24 points and 11 rebounds as a junior.

"I'm confident Mike will be able to showcase all the unique skills that made him one of the top-100 high school basketball players as a high school senior," Green said. "Our objective is to blend his unique talent into our team concept. We will work very hard to provide Mike an opportunity to be the best college basketball player in America next year."

Darren Dickerson holds a similar high school resume coming from Laney High School in North Carolina. Laney is the same high school Michael Jordan attended.

Dickerson was a three-year varsity starter at Laney where he earned all-conference (Mid-Eastern 4A) honors as a sophomore and all-tournament team honors during the 1997-98 Leon Bragdin Holiday Christmas Tournament. Along the way he guided the team to a 20-7 mark. As a junior Laney advanced to the state tournament. He scored 17 points per game in the Eastern Regional Tournament and earned all-tournament honors. He scored 33 points against nationally ranked no. 6 West Charlotte High School. As a senior, the guard was named the conference player of the year after averaging 20.5 points, six assists and was a member of the Christmas Tournament all-tournament team.

Dickerson concluding his high school career with 1,299 points surpassing the famed Michael Jordan, a former NBA teammate of Coach Green.

Following his career at Laney, Dickerson attended Old Dominion University, but saw limited action. He then transferred to Southeastern Illinois Community College where he averaged 10 points and 5.7 assists per game. Dickerson earned all-conference and all-region honors after guiding the squad to a 34-2 record including a seventh place finish at Nationals. SICC ended the season ranked no. 2.

"Darren brings leadership, stability and the winning edge to our program," Green said. "All I ask of him is to help FAU duplicate the season he just concluded at SICC."

The third player added to the squad is Pierre Tucker, a 6-5, 220 pound transfer who also comes from nearby Palm Beach Community College.

Tucker, a teammate of Bell, averaged 13 points per game and nine rebounds for PBCC. He shot 47% from behind the arc as a sophomore. Tucker was an All-Southern Conference honorable mention selection at PBCC.

Prior to PBCC, Tucker played for Colby Community College in Kansas. He earned his high school experience from the highly touted Dunbar High School in Baltimore, MD, where he was an all-section honoree as a senior.

"It is a great opportunity for Pierre to be a part of FAU's basketball team," Green said. "I'm looking forward to seeing big things from him during his final two seasons of collegiate basketball."

The list of three will complete the cast of returning seniors who will strive for a return trip to the NCAA Tournament. Jeff Cowans, Earnest Crumbley, Jeff Hamilton, Chris Thomas and Robert Williams will be the seniors leading the team and newcomers toward that goal.