HAMMOND, Ind. – Purdue University Calumet made one of its best off-season moves signing Indianapolis North Central’s Jay Harmas, a 6-0 point guard. The two-year starter helped the 4A top 10 ranked North Central Panthers to a 20-4 finish last season and a 17-9 finish in 2004-05.Basketball expert Rick Bolus, judging prep talent since 1973 and a sponsor of NCAA certified “blue chip” basketball camps, ranked Harmas among the top 100 players from Indiana for 2005-06.

Harmas played in 13 games last season and averaged three assists per game. As a junior he averaged six ppg and three apg and committed only 20 turnovers all season. Harmas was an All Metropolitan Interscholastic Conference honorable mention last season and an All Conference player as a junior.

“He’s definitely a strong addition to our program,” PUC head coach Mike James said.

Harmas’ affinity for finding open teammates should improve overall scoring for the Peregrines who averaged 74.4 points per game. He should also increase the Peregrines’ assist average per game; 13 per game last season. That was his role in high school.

“He ran the show for North Central as far as setting up his teammates,” James said. “He wasn’t a big scorer because that was something he didn’t have to do for them. I think he’ll be able to shoot and score in our offense, and he’ll really improve ball distribution.”

In his three seasons on the varsity, Harmas teamed with some of the top prep talent in the country, including the 2005-06 Associated Press All-State First Team guard Eric Gordon, who has verbally committed to the University of Illinois, 2004-05 Indiana Mr. Basketball A.J. Ratliff, now a sophomore at Indiana University, and 2005-06 All-MAC Second Team player Julien “Skip” Mills, a junior at Ball State.

As a junior, Harmas had his best offensive night with 21 points and six assists. In back-to-back games he scored 19 points. Last season his top totals for a game included 13 points, 8 assists, 6 steals, and 4 rebounds.