WSU lands four-star wing Roberto Gittens

PULLMAN – For the third consecutive year Ernie Kent has recruited the best basketball player in Tacoma.

Roberto Gittens, a 6-foot-5 four-star wing out of Foss High and onetime Boise State commit, announced on Monday that he will sign with Washington State. He is the first four-star basketball recruit to head to Pullman since current NBA All-Star Klay Thompson.

He is also the third straight Tacoma News Tribune Player of the Year to sign with WSU, joining Viont’e Daniels and Malachi Flynn. It is possible the Cougars will have an All-Tacoma starting backcourt in 2017.

T.J. Cotterrill of the TNT profiled Gittens when he was named the newspaper’s Player of the Year and told the story of a former “hothead” who grew into a team leader for Foss, which this year won the 2A state title and finished with a 25-5 record. Gittens scored 22 points and collected 12 rebounds in the team’s 83-73 win over Selah in the championship game.

Gittens joins a pair of transfers from Tyler Junior College, Kwinton Hinson and Davante Cooper, in WSU’s 2017 recruiting class. The Cougars still have two scholarships available.