April 23, 2014

PITTSBURGH - Duquesne University head men's basketball coach Jim Ferry announced today that guard Rene Castro (Boston, Mass./Worcester Academy), a consensus 3-star recruit who played at Butler last season, has signed a financial aid agreement and will be part of the men's basketball program this fall.

Castro, who played in 12 games as a true freshman this past season, will sit out in 2014-15 per NCAA transfer guidelines. He will have three seasons of eligibility at Duquesne.

"We are really happy to be able to add a person and player of Rene's caliber to our program," said Ferry. "We recruited him extremely hard out of prep school and still feel strongly about him. Rene will add maturity and experience, but the thing that always stood out to me about him is his competitiveness. His versatility as a bigger point guard is something that is going to help us as well."

Castro, who was recruited to Butler by former BU and current Boston Celtics head coach Brad Stevens, averaged 3.3 points in 8.8 minutes per game before receiving his release in early February. He was ranked as the No. 6 prospect in New England and top player in Massachusetts by New England Recruiting Report following his senior season at Worcester Academy.

Castro, who attended the same prep school as Duquesne 1,000-point scorers Bill Clark (2008-11) and Aaron Jackson (2006-09), was the first Worcester player to be named Gatorade Massachusetts Boys Basketball Player of the Year when he earned the honor following his junior season in 2011-12.

The Boston, Mass. native made an official recruiting visit to Duquesne in October of 2012 prior to signing with Butler that November.

CAREER STATS FOR RENE CASTRO AT BUTLER

YEAR  G/GS   MIN/AVG  FG-AT  PCT  3M-AT  PCT  FT-AT  PCT    REB   PF-DQ   A  TO  BK  S    PTS-AVG2014  12/0   105/8.8  15-32 .469   3-9  .333  7-13  .538   7-0.6   7-0    4   4   0  5     40-3.3

HIGH GAMES

Points: 12 vs. ManchesterField Goals: 5 vs. Manchester & vs. NJITField Goal Attempts: 8 vs. NJIT3-Point Field Goals: 2 vs. Manchester3-Point Attempts: 3 vs. ManchesterFree Throws: 2, three timesFree Throw Attempts: 3 vs. Lamar & vs. DePaulRebounds: 2 vs. NJIT & at XavierAssists: 2 vs. ManchesterBlocked Shots: 0Steals: 1, five timesMinutes: 19 vs. NJIT

DUQUESNE UNIVERSITY BASKETBALL 2014-15 RECRUITING CLASS

NAME            POS   HT   WT   CL     PPG   RPG   HOMETOWN/LAST SCHOOLRene Castro*    G    6-2  180   So.    3.3   0.6   Boston, Mass./Worcester Academy (Butler)TySean Powell   F    6-7  215   Fr.   16.4   9.3   Twinsburg, Ohio/IMG (Fla.) Academy

* - Castro will be eligible in 2015-16; stats are from the 2013-14 season at Butler