Isaiah Saulsberry is coming off a season in which he became the Bulldogs' all-time leading scorer, surpassing Capel Henshaw for the No. 1 spot and finishing his four-year Harrisburg career with 1,900 points.
Maryville University is coming off one of the most successful seasons in program history as the Saints won the Great Lakes Valley Conference Central Division and complied a 20-8 overall record and went 12-6 in GLVC play.
Together, Saulsberry is hoping to keep the good going as the 6-foot-3 senior guard signed a National Letter of Intent to continue his basketball playing days with the St. Louis based school.
Maryville University, located 22 miles from downtown St. Louis, has the appeal of home for Saulsberry, which he said helped him make his decision.
"After the first visit to Maryville, it really felt like home," he said. "Not just the basketball side, but the atmosphere of the entire campus. It just felt right. I played a whole season to make sure I made the right decision with a school.
"After this season was over, I wanted to go back on campus to get another feel for what it's like there and it still felt like home. I scrimmaged with the guys and ate dinner with the coaching staff. Everyone just felt like family."
Saulsberry said the Saints offered him when he made his first visit, however, Saulsberry was patient in his approach to choosing a college. On April 6th, Saulsberry made his second visit. On April 7th, he committed.
Saulsberry had 610 points this season, helping Harrisburg to a 23-8 record. Saulsberry was named to the Illinois Associated Press and Illinois Basketball Coaches Association Class 2A All-State Second Teams. He was also named to the Southern Illinois Coaches Association All-South Team.
Saulsberry is the No. 15 ranked shooting guard and the No. 48 ranked overall prospect in the PrepHoopsIllinois.com rankings for the class of 2018. He was an All-Conference selection all four years at Harrisburg and eared three All-Tournament Team honors at the Murphysboro Ernie Bozarth Memorial Classic Tournament and the Eldorado Holiday Tournament. In addition, Saulsberry was named to the All-Tourmanet team at the Carmi-White County Invitational three times and was named Most Valuable Player this past season.
"I feel like I can shoot the ball really well," Saulsberry said of his basketball strengths. "Getting to the basket will be something I'm going to need to get a lot better at. I'm not too worried about my defense because I know I will get tremendously better at guarding someone as good as or better than I am."
While at Maryville, Saulsberry plans on majoring in Sports Management.
Michael Dann covers prep and college sports for the Southern Illinois Local Media News Group. Follow him on Twitter: @spydieshooter.
