Metamora all-stater Ethan Kizer commits to play college basketball at South Alabama

Ethan Kizer has made his college decision.

The Metamora senior gave his verbal commitment to play Division-I basketball at South Alabama via social media on Friday. In the post, the 6-foot-6 all-state guard was dressed in a red South Alabama jersey and captioned it "Burn the boats," a phase coined by head coach Richie Riley.

He had received the scholarship offer Tuesday from the Sun Belt Conference school based in Mobile, Ala.

Kizer helped lead Metamora to the Class 3A state championship last March, finishing second to Springfield Sacred Heart-Griffin in a double-overtime instant classic. He averaged 12.0 points, 5.1 rebounds and 1.3 blocks per game, while shooting 43.2% from the field and 38.7 percent behind the arc.

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In July, Kizer cleared up reports of college programs pulling scholarship offers.

“Those were just big rumors,” Kizer said. “Other schools trying to get into my head, I guess.”

Kizer had previously announced via social media offers to Bradley, Illinois State, Southeast Missouri State, Illinois-Chicago, Morehead State, Toledo and Eastern Illinois. He was an all-Mid-Illini Conference first-team and Journal Star all-area selection for the Redbirds, who finished 30-7 and won the Mid-Illini with a 13-1 mark.

Metamora is set to open the season at 4:30 p.m. Tuesday, Nov. 22 against reigning Class 1A state champion Yorkville Christian the annual Kevin Brown Memorial Tournament of Champions in Washington.

Adam Duvall is a Journal Star sports reporter. Email him at aduvall@pjstar.com. Follow him on Twitter @AdamDuvall.

This article originally appeared on Journal Star: Metamora basketball all-stater Ethan Kizer commits to South Alabama