By Dylan Butler
St. Francis Prep star Mike Cavataio has verbally committed to play Division I basketball at St. John's next year, the TimesLedger has learned.
According to several sources, the 6-foot-5 forward made it official Sunday following the Red Storm's stunning 64-60 upset of Syracuse at Madison Square Garden, a game he attended.
The Forest Hills native, who leads the CHSAA in scoring, averaging 25.3 points per game, was also being recruited by Hofstra, Boston University and Manhattan, among other Division I schools. But St. John's swooped in late, with head coach Norm Roberts in a packed Jack Curran Gymnasium Friday night for the Terriers' 76-51 loss at Molloy.
Cavataio, who sat out last year after transferring from Christ the King, is the second Queens-based player to commit to St. John's, following CK point guard Malik Boothe, who made his decision in August. Cavataio's father, Mike Sr., is a St. John's alum.
Mike Sr. was concerned his son might have passed up a chance to play Division I ball when he transferred from Christ the King to St. Francis Prep. After all, in 2003 he led the Royals' freshman team to the city championship and, at 6-foot-3, he already had a sweet shooting touch and a slasher's mentality.
But then tragedy struck hard and without warning.
Only a few short months after the city championship celebration ended, Cavataio's mother Joanne died of a heart attack on April 4, 2004 after suffering from a blood clot in her leg.
He threw himself into basketball, but broke his ankle in his first varsity game. Undeterred, he fought back and came back midway through the season. His first game back, he broke the same ankle.
This time, his season was over.
But after attending the first day of class at Christ the King in Sept. 2005, he decided the Middle Village school was no longer for him. That weekend he told his father he wanted to transfer to St. Francis Prep, where his sister went, where his friends from the neighborhood went.
“When my mom died, I was kind of confused about what to do,” Cavataio said. “Sometimes you just have to be happy. You appreciate things more when something like that happens.”
Because he transferred during the school year – albeit a few days in – Cavataio was forced to sit out last year. But that didn't stop him from practicing with the team, from putting in extra hours in the gym.
“He's been great since he got here,” Terriers coach Tim Leary said of Cavataio. “He knew he couldn't play last year (because of league transfer rules), but he practiced every day. He's a throwback gym rat.”
— Marc Raimondi contributed to this story
