Syracuse, NY – This summer, the idea of going to prep school seemed crazy to Westhill basketball star Eli Prince.
But as fall began, reality set in for last year’s All-CNY Boys Basketball Player of the Year. Since the advent of name, picture and likeness payments and the transfer portal, college basketball has changed and gotten older, meaning its newest high school recruits have to be stronger and more experienced to compete with their older peers.
On Tuesday, Prince joined a long line of talented Syracuse-area players who went to practice and announced his commitment to play his post-graduate year at Cushing Academy, a school in Massachusetts that competes in the highly competitive NEPSAC league.
“Just when I see college basketball these days, everybody’s older and you’re basically playing grown men,” Prince said. “Everybody’s stronger and it’s just on a different physical level. So I thought that extra year was going to be needed.”
Although many local stars have opted to go to prep before graduating from their hometown schools, Prince will finish his senior year at Westhill and try to cap off his career with a fourth straight sectional championship. The Wolf Pack are 9-0 and ranked No. 1 in Class A in the latest NYSSWA state rankings.
Westhill won the state title when Prince was a freshman, although he only played in six games. Prince’s sophomore and junior seasons ended in the state playoffs at the hands of two-time defending state champion Glens Falls, coached by former Syracuse star Joe Girard III’s father, Joe Girard Sr.
Prince is listed as a 6-foot-5, 175-pound small forward. He led all Section III players in scoring last year, finishing with 25.6 points per game, 7.7 rebounds, 2.3 assists, 1.6 steals and 1.3 blocks in 25 games. While he easily dominated inside against smaller players, he also showed the shooting ability he will need when he plays against bigger and better competition in prep and college. It’s a true three-level shooter.
His best game of the year came in Westhill’s sectional championship win over Jamesville-DeWitt, when he scored a career-high 37 points — including 24 in the first half to single-handedly tie the Red Rams’ total — to go with 10 rebounds and five assists.
In nine games this season, he is averaging 22.6 points, 9.6 rebounds and 3 assists per game.
Prince said he looked around New England for a prep school suitable for the 2026-27 school year and settled on Cushing Academy after four visits to schools in the NEPSAC.
Former Chittenango star Ryan Moesch transferred to Cushing two years ago before his senior season and developed into a four-star recruit. In September, he chose Gerry McNamara’s Siena over two dozen Division I offers to become the highest-ranked recruit in program history.
Prince said he connected with Moesch a few times, and Moesch told him that the Cushing staff were the best coaches and mentors he had ever met.
“I could tell from my conversations with trainer (James) Cormier,” Prince said. “And that’s really what did it to me.
Prince said he has received offers from Siena, Colgate and Le Moyne. His father, Flagan Prince, is one of only seven players in Le Moyne history to earn All-American honors and was inducted into the school’s Hall of Fame in 2022.
Flagan is an assistant coach on the Westhill basketball team. Prince’s mother Karla is the head girls volleyball coach at Westhill and won her second state championship in November.
Leaving Westhill before graduation was never an option, Prince said.
“Just being loyal to all the people that have helped me throughout my life, really,” Prince said. “And everybody that’s always been there for me, my community and all my friends and everybody that I’ve developed relationships with along the way. I just want to finish my time here and then pay my respects to them.”
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