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St. John’s basketball makes Top-3 for Class of 2021 SG Rafael Pinzon

By Kevin Connelly

St. John's basketball head coach Mike Anderson. (Photo by Porter Binks/Getty Images)
St. John's basketball head coach Mike Anderson. (Photo by Porter Binks/Getty Images) /
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The St. John’s basketball program made the Top-3 for Class of 2021 shooting guard Rafael Pinzon.

In a surprise cutdown announcement on Wednesday night, Class of 2021 shooting guard Rafael Pinzon released his Top-3 finalists, including Florida, New Mexico, and St. John’s.

Pinzon, a 6-foot-5, 175 pound shooting guard, hails from Puerto Rico and stars at Long Island Lutheran, the same school as the Red Storm’s lone commit in the senior class, Drissa Traore.

Rafael Pinzon is ranked as a three-star recruit and the No. 187 player in the Class of 2021, No. 40 shooting guard, and No. 3 player in the state of New York, according to the 247 Sports Composite Rankings.

ALSO READ: St. John’s reaches out to 2021 junior college shooting guard

Pinzon also held offers from Illinois, Georgia Tech, Mercer, Dayton, and Xavier.

The final three schools all came in with offers recently for the shooting guard, with New Mexico offering on July 13, Florida on July 31, and St. Johns’ on August 11.

Last summer Rafael Pinzon competed in the 2019 CentroBasket U17 Championships and averaged 16.2 points, 4.6 rebounds, and 2.6 assists per game on 49.2 percent shooting from the field and 50.0 percent shooting from 3-point range.

Pinzon’s best game came against the Dominican Republic where he exploded for 28 points in the semifinals, but Puerto Rico ultimately fell in the Gold Medal game to Mexico.

Rafael Pinzon also plays for the New York Jayhawks on the AAU circuit.

ALSO READ: Big East, Big 12 determined to play conference battle

There has been no timetable for a possible decision from the guard but St. John’s, who is near the bottom of the recruiting rankings in the Big East, desperately needs to improve its 2021 class as the program only ranks ahead of Providence, who does not have a commitment yet in the senior class.

With the commitment of Traore and if there are no changes from the 2020-21 roster to the 2021-22 roster, head coach Mike Anderson will still have two scholarships to work with in the Class of 2021.

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