St. Monica’s Duncan Makes a Commitment to Play for Syracuse

Earl Duncan, a 6-foot 3-inch guard who averaged 27.1 points and seven rebounds a game last season as a junior at St. Monica High School in Santa Monica, has made an oral commitment to play next year for the University of Syracuse.

Duncan had scheduled a visit this weekend to Georgia Tech, his fifth and final recruiting trip, but canceled it Wednesday and called Syracuse Coach Jim Boeheim to say he would sign a letter of intent next week with the Orangemen. One of the top players in Southern California, Duncan also had Boston College, Kansas and North Carolina State under consideration.

Kansas got an oral commitment from another local guard, Santa Monica High’s Carrick DeHart. He also visited Washington and UC Irvine.

In other news, the California Interscholastic Federation upheld an earlier ruling banning the Huntington Beach Ocean View boys’ basketball team from the playoffs after the coming season and taking back the runner-up trophy from the 1984-85 5-A Division playoffs. A group of parents has hired a lawyer and is considering suing the CIF.