Trotwood's Torrey Patton gets offers from Akron, Duquesne

A disappointing loss in his final high school basketball game might have led to the next best thing for Trotwood-Madison senior Torrey Patton: A NCAA Division I scholarship offer.

Trotwood was upset by Akron St. Vincent-St. Mary 62-60 in last Thursday's Division II state semifinals at Columbus. Irish coach Dru Joyce was just as rattled upon hearing Patton had generated sparse recruiting interest.

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That all changed this week when Keith Dambrot resigned as the University of Akron’s men’s basketball coach to accept a similar position at Duquesne in the Atlantic-10. Patton was among at least six seniors and underclassmen Dambrot made offers to in his first hours after accepting the Duquesne position.

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It’s not a stretch to imagine Joyce sold Dambrot on Patton. Joyce was an assistant to Dambrot and succeeded him as the Akron SVSM head coach in time for LeBron James’ junior season. Besides, Patton scored 34 points in Trotwood’s loss and was essentially unguardable.

“I think that’s probably what happened,” Patton said. “(Joyce) probably reached out to him and told him about me. He sure watched me.”

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Dambrot initially made an offer this week to Patton when he was still Akron’s coach and quickly did the same after switching to Duquesne. Trotwood coach Rocky Rockhold said Appalachian State, Northern Kentucky and Indiana-Purdue Fort Wayne also have inquired about Patton in the last 48 hours.

A talented 6-foot-4 guard, Patton was the D-II All-Ohio co-player of the year along with many other accolades after leading the Rams to a 26-3 season. He averaged a team-best 20.7 points, 9.1 rebounds and 5.8 assists.

In the state semis against Akron SVSM he also had three 3-pointers to go with 11 rebounds, two steals and two assists. Akron SVSM won state but lost 100-61 to Trotwood in the regular season.

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“You play as well as he played on a big stage when there’s a lot of college coaches there and it gives you an opportunity to showcase a little bit,” Rockhold said. “With a skill-set like Torrey has, this is what I thought we’d be dealing with going into the season, to be honest. Maybe it was a blessing there were no distractions for him and he could go out and play the way he played on the biggest stage.”

Patton said he’ll visit both Duquesne and Akron and possibly other programs. He plans on signing during the regular signing period, which starts April 12. NCAA coaches are not permitted to contact recruits or make offers during the final four “dead” period, which starts today and ends April 6.

Patton played in the District 15 all-star game at Springboro last weekend.

“My recruitment has jumped,” he said. “It was a relief to finally get me one.

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