Top-ranked Miss. hoop star transferring to Trinity

JACKSON, Miss. -- Provine High star D'Angelo West will play his senior season at Trinity High School in Louisville, Ky., his mother confirmed Tuesday to The Clarion-Ledger newspaper.

The 6-foot-3 combo guard led the Rams to the Class 6A semifinals, averaging 22.1 points per game, five assists, four rebounds and two steals.

According to his mother, Jessica West, the reason behind the transfer is a combination of her receiving a job promotion and wanting more exposure for her son as he heads into his last year playing high school basketball.

"If the (job) opportunity didn't present itself, we wouldn't even be having this discussion," she said. "But because I'm being relocated to a job in Louisville - which is basketball country - the opportunities that came with that are what made me want to move him."

The guard will play for Trinity head coach Mike Szabo, who is entering his 14th season with the Shamrocks. Trinity won a KHSAA state championship in 2012 and is regarded as one of the premier basketball programs in the Louisville area.

"Up there people eat, sleep and breathe basketball," D'Angelo West said. "Down here I kind of felt slighted by The (Clarion-Ledger All-Metro and All-State) teams that came out, but this was the hardest choice to make. I grew up here and these people are like my family. I love Provine to death, but you have to make sacrifices to get what you want in life and I'm just looking for the best opportunity for me."

Though unranked by most recruiting services, West has drawn the interest of several mid-level Division I programs and holds offers from UT-Chattanooga, Texas State and New Orleans. Having raised her son in Jackson, Jessica West said leaving was a difficult decision but a necessary one given the landscape of college basketball recruiting in the Louisville area.

"He's got ties and relationships here and that was the hardest thing for him to break," she said. "But I felt like when the All-Metro team came out...I totally feel like D got slighted on that. Totally. When that happened in conjunction with the opportunities that presented itself, it was the best decision I could make for my son."

Improving in every statistical category from his freshman through junior seasons, the guard made a strong case for a Dandy Dozen bid this year. He was named to The Clarion-Ledger's Second Team All-Metro and Second Team All-State selections and also received MVP honors during January's Rumble in the South tournament in Clinton.

D'Angelo West and his mother will relocate to Louisville prior to starting his senior year. According to Jessica West, Trinity has received her son's paperwork and is waiting on Provine to send over his transcripts.

Provine head coach Otis Gaines and Trinity's Szabo could not be reached for comment.