Men’s basketball announced that they have signed a pair of players to join the program for the 2020-2021 season. Myles Ruth and Klemen Vuga will both be joining the freshman class for the blue and white this year.
Ruth is a native of Hillside, New Jersey and played his high school basketball at Don Bosco in Ramsey, New Jersey. In his senior season Ruth was name First Team All-Big North Division, First Team All-North Jersey and First Team All-Bergen County.
Standing at six feet tall, he averaged 13.6 points per game, 4.7 assists and 2.3 steals in senior campaign in high school. He was also very efficient from the field as he finished the season with a 53 percent field goal percentage. With Ruth’s efforts, the Ironmen finished the 2019-20 season with a 14-6 record while posting an impressive 9-1 record at home.
Ruth also posted a total of five games in his senior year with at least 20 points including a 27 point explosion against Newburgh Free Academy. Not only did he score with ease, but he filled up the entire stat sheet in this contest. Ruth finished with 27 points, seven rebounds, five assists, two blocks, and six steals.
Ruth was also awarded Most Valuable Player honors for the Dennis Gregory Classic as well as being selected as an All-Star by NJHoops.com
Joining him in Monmouth’s incoming class is Klemen Vuga from Menges, Slovenia who attended high school at Virginia Episcopal School in Lynchburg, Virginia.
Vuga spent two seasons on varsity where he started a total of 57 games. In his junior season, Vuga averaged 7.5 points and 4.4 rebounds in roughly 19 minutes per game. He stepped up his game in his senior year where he averaged 11.5 points and 8.3 rebounds while averaging 24.2 minutes in 27 games played. He shot 46 percent from the field. Beyond the arc, Vuga shot 28 percent in his two seasons and also had a free throw percentage of 46 percent.
In a game against Hargrave Military Academy, Vuga exploded for 20 points and 16 rebounds. He also registered both a block and a steal in the contest. He put up an impressive performance in Virginia Episcopal School’s win over Covenant. Vuga recorded a career high 22 points in 31 minutes of play. He also grabbed 12 boards in the winning effort. On the defensive end, Vuga contributed by adding two blocks and two steals to his tally. In his senior year, Vuga recorded a total of nine double-doubles. Vuga stands at six feet and nine inches and played high school ball under head coach Darko Sedlar.
“We’re super excited to add Myles and Klemen to our program,” said head coach King Rice.
Ruth and Vuga will be rounding out a four-player freshman class for the Monmouth Hawks. The other freshman they will be joining in blue and white are Jack Holmstrom from Rockford, Illinois and Myles Foster from Brooklyn, New York.
“We can’t wait to get to work with them on our new team and we’re happy they chose us,” said Rice.
The Hawks are coming off a season where they finished the regular season with 18 wins but did not get a chance to participate in the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference (MAAC) tournament due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Men’s basketball is scheduled to tip-off their season on December 8th when they face off with Niagara on the road.
PHOTO COURTESY of Monmouth Athletics
