Sept. 12, 2008
SAN DIEGO - San Diego State men's basketball head coach Steve Fisher announced Friday that shooting guard and San Diego native Tyrone Shelley has joined the SDSU men's basketball program. Shelley must sit out the 2008-09 season due to NCAA transfer rules and will be eligible as a sophomore in 2009-10.
"We are excited that Tyrone is a part of San Diego State University," Fisher said. "He will be a great addition to our team and we are excited to have him return home and grow with the program. He has a knack for scoring the basketball, which is something that every team needs. He is a very good athlete who knows how to score in a variety of ways."
Shelley, 6-6, 220-pound guard, comes to Montezuma Mesa after spending one season at Pepperdine where he averaged a team-best 15.1 points in 32 games, while making 19 starts in 2007-08. The Crawford High product also averaged 5.8 rebounds, 0.9 assists and 1.6 steals per game. Shelley connected on a team-high 167 field goals, while ranking second on the team in rebound average, steals (52), three-point field goals (48), free throws (100) and free-throw percentage (.763). Additionally, his 17 blocked shots were third-most for the Waves.
At nearby Crawford, Shelley, who earned EA Sports All-America honors as a senior, completed his prep career by setting the CIF San Diego Section career scoring record with 2,962 points. In his final game in the CIF Division III semifinals, Shelley scored 42 points to provide his final career total.
In addition to being named an All-American, Shelley earned all-state first-team accolades and was named the San Diego section and San Diego Union-Tribune player of the year after averaging 34.9 points per game, the second-highest total in section history. Included in his career scoring total are 566 total free throws, which was section record at the time. Shelley left Crawford as the eighth-best senior in California, according to Rivals.com and as the No. 64- and No. 75-rated senior by Rivals.com and Hoop Scoop, respectively.
As a junior, Shelley averaged 26.9 points and guided Crawford to the section title. At the conclusion of the year he was named to the all-state second team and was named a Student Sports All-American all-junior honoree. During the campaign, Shelley scored a section-record 76 points in a win over Canada's Burlington Central High. In his sophomore season, Shelley posted a scoring average of 27.9 points and was named the California sophomore of the year by CalHiSports.
Prior to attending Crawford, Shelley went to El Cajon Christian High where he averaged 28.5 points.
Shelley joins Brian Carlwell, Mehdi Cheriet, Tim Island and Bryce Smith as new additions to the Aztec Basketball program in 2008-09.