St. John's Reinvents Frontcourt By Adding Rugged JUCO Star Keith Thomas

NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) -- If you don't know who Keith Thomas is, you will soon.

He's a rebounding machine who is heading to St. John's.

Needing to replace NBA-bound JaKarr Sampson, the Red Storm pulled off a major coup on Monday, landing one of the best rebounders in all of junior college.

Thomas, who stands 6-foot-8, averaged 15.3 points and 15.7 boards per game, leading Westchester Community College to a 28-5 record, the Region XV title and a spot in the JUCO national tournament during the 2013-14 season. He chose the Red Storm over South Florida, Loyola (Ill.) and Fordham. He was also being recruited by Miami and Wichita State, the NY Post reported Monday.

Prior to dominating at Westchester, Thomas played at Yorktown High School in Westchester County.

Thomas will join a St. John's frontcourt that could have two of the better role players in the Big East with Thomas on the boards and 6-9 shot-blocker extraordinaire Chris Obekpa, who chose to return to the program despite being granted his release. Those two figure to be supported by redshirt sophomore forward Christian Jones and fellow commit Adonis Delarosa, a 6-11 forward/center from Christ the King in Queens.

Sampson declared for the NBA draft after averaging 12.8 points and shooting nearly 50 percent from the field as a sophomore for St. John's, which finished the season 20-13 and failed to make the NCAA tournament.

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