Red Wolves - IU East

Indiana University East's newest men's basketball player comes from just a short jump shot away.

Cory Noelker, a recent Centerville (Ind.) High School graduate, has signed a letter of intent to play basketball for IU East starting with the 2010-11 season.

Red Wolves coach Mark Hester announced the signing June 14.

Noelker (pronounced "NOLE-ker") is a 6-1 guard. He averaged 8.7 points per game, 2.5 assists per game and 2.0 steals per game as a senior.

His shooting, ballhandling and court vision helped Centerville post a 32-15 record with two sectional titles and two county championships the past two seasons.

"Cory impressed me during open gyms," Hester said. "He wasn't intimidated or in awe of our guys, and he has some skills.

"He's a hard-nosed, tough kid who is going to bring that to the table every day. He played in a great program at Centerville for coach (Ryan) Chiddister who does a great job with those guys, so I know he's been well-taught."

Centerville High School is 6.7 miles from the IU East campus. Noelker will be the second Wayne County product to play basketball at IU East since the Red Wolves joined the NAIA in 2007.

Cory is the son of Kim and Mike Noelker. He plans to major in secondary education. He says the small-college atmosphere at IU East is a good fit.

"IU East was one of few schools looking at me for basketball, and it happened to be right down the road," Noelker said.

Noelker is the 10th signee in IU East's 2010 men's basketball recruiting class. He joins Ian Enriquez (Lake Station), Sean Stevens (Newburgh), Justin Gill (Munster), Cody Banet (Floyds Knobs), Terry Weathers (East Chicago), Brock (Barbary) Duke (Kokomo), Bakari Smith (Indianapolis), Matt Trimnell (Seymour) and Josh Cook (Gas City).

IU East's recruits combined for a 162-62 record as high school seniors.