Former Pitman Star Elijah Crispin Headed To Division I Bryant

by Marc Narducci | Apr 15, 2026

It’s been a pretty good basketball offseason for the Crispin family. Former Pitman star Joe Crispin was named the head coach at Air Force. And Elijah Crispin, Joe’s son and a 2025 Pitman graduate, recently committed to play basketball at Division I Bryant.

For Elijah, this was a long-time dream to play at a Division I program.

While Bryant was just 9-24 this past season, the Bulldogs earned an NCAA tournament bid the year before, going 23-12. In fact, Bryant has been to the NCAA tournament twice in the last five years.

“It feels good and I am excited,” Crispin said in an interview with Southjersey.com. “It was always a goal to play D-1 and glad I got it done after taking a detour postgrad year.”

The 6-foot Crispin played this past season at the Perkiomen School in Pennsburg PA. Yet, he almost didn’t get to play his postgrad season.

Crispin broke his right index finger and was out for six weeks early in the season.

“I was disappointed because I had a good summer and fall,” Crispin said. “I had one practice before I came back and I wasn’t very good the first two weeks after I returned.”

Yet he was good after that. Playing combo guard, but with more time at the point, Crispin said he averaged 21 points in January and February and 17 points for the season.

He is known for his long-range shooting, but also has the ability to set up his teammates and will play point guard at Bryant.

Crispin said he was contacted by a few Division I schools, but Bryant was his first official visit.

As it worked out, on his visit Crispin played pickup basketball with the Bryant players.

He said the Bryant coaching staff wanted to watch how he played against what would be his future teammates and finally offered him the scholarship until the end of his visit.

“They wanted to see me play in person,” he said of the coaching staff, headed by head coach Jamion Christian.

Crispin said he connected well with the coaching staff.

“Coach Christian is a great dude, and I really liked the coaching staff,” he said. “Coach Christian believed in me first and saw me as more than just a shooter.”

That might be the case, but shooting remains a major selling point of Crispin’s game.

In today’s college basketball a point guard has to do more than just run the offense. That player has to be able to shoot, especially so defenses don’t slack off the point and double-team others.

Crispin has always been a shooter. It runs in the family.

So does winning.

During his junior year, Crispin and Pitman won the South Jersey Group 1 championship. He averaged 18.5 points that season and then exploded to average 27.9 points as a senior.

All told, Crispin scored 2,097 points at Pitman and hit 271 three-point field goals.

Now he is headed to a school where he hopes to compete for immediate playing time. His overall grasp of the game, along with his shooting and playmaking ability is something South Jersey fans saw during his career at Pitman and now the college basketball world will get to witness as well.

Elijah Crispin / Courtesy of Elijah Crispin

Article continues below

- Seizing the Moment

After the spring season was canceled last year due to the pandemic, these standout student-athletes from South Jersey are hoping to make the most of their opportunities in 2021.

- A Show of Strength

With the state ravaged by the COVID-19 pandemic, South Jersey is proving there’s more ways than one to put up a fight.

Author: Marc Narducci

Former Pitman Star Elijah Crispin Headed To Division I Bryant

Related Articles

Archives