CdM’s Eberhard to walk on at UC Irvine for hoops

Corona del Mar High boys’ basketball coach Ryan Schachter is now a big-time Anteater fan.

Six-foot-six small forward Joe Eberhard, one of CdM’s star players, said on Wednesday he plans to walk on the UC Irvine men’s basketball team next season.

“I’ve just been playing with these guys three days a week for the past couple of weeks during open gym and I really like the players, coaches, the school, and it’s a Division I program,” said Eberhard, who earned first-team All-Pacific Coast League and second-team All-Southern California Interscholastic Basketball Coaches Assn. Division III-A honors. “All the players and coaches have been really welcoming and I felt wanted.”

For Eberhard, a 175-pounder, that was the clincher.

Interest for the senior averaging 15.3 points and 6.6 points per game during the 2007-08 season came from the University of San Diego to Metro State, but the opportunity to stay local also played a part.

Schachter said he sees Eberhard contributing to a UCI program coming off a season in which it was one victory away from earning a berth into the NCAA Division I Tournament for the first time in school history.

— David Carrillo Peñaloza