MACOMB, Ill. - Western Illinois head men?s basketball coach Derek Thomas has announced the official signing of Purdue transfer Xavier Price (O?Fallon, Ill./Belleville West) and forward Lorenzo Taylor (Alton, Ill./Alton) to complete the 2005 recruiting class.The 6-foot-3 Price averaged 3.1 points, 1.7 rebounds and 1.2 assists in 26 games, including five starts, with the Boilermakers last season. Price scored a career-high 11 points in his collegiate debut against Miami (Ohio) and hit two game-winning free throws with eight seconds remaining in a one-point win, 69-68, over Colorado State. ?I?ve been watching (Xavier) since he was in eighth grade,? Thomas said. ?He?s an outstanding athlete whose skills will really blossom in our system. He?s an excellent transition player with a great body who I also think will be a great defensive player in the Mid-Con.?Price was ranked as the 47th-best player in the nation by HoopScoop after averaging 16.5 points, 7.0 rebounds and 3.5 assists during his senior year at Belleville West. Price was named to the All-Southwest Conference first team and won the Illinois Slam Dunk Championship.Thomas said the addition of a Big Ten transfer has already begun to benefit the program.?I?ve been getting a lot of calls from people showing interest in Western Illinois. A lot of the younger kids are taking Western more seriously because of the quality of players we?ve been able to bring in.?The 6-foot-6 Taylor led Alton to a school-record 27 wins this past season with a team-high 14.6 points and 8.9 rebounds per contest. The Redbirds won Illinois Class AA regional and sectional championships before falling to state runner-up Carbondale in the Southern Illinois-Edwardsville Super-Sectional, 64-60. Taylor also led his team to tournament championships in the Alton Tip-Off Classic, the Centralia Holiday Tournament and the Chatham Glenwood Classic. Taylor was named the most valuable player at the Centralia Tournament and received the Alton Exchange Club?s Player of the Year award.?He?s a hidden gem in the state,? Thomas said. ?He?s long, athletic and more skilled than I thought. To play in a Princeton-style offense like he did you have to be both a skilled and cerebral player. His best days are still ahead of him.?Price will have to sit out next season because of NCAA transfer rules, but he will have three seasons of eligibility remaining beginning with the 2006-07 season. Taylor joins 6-foot-7 junior guard/forward Marlon Mahorn (East Orange, N.J./Manchester [CT] HS/Coffeyville [KS] Community College), 6-foot-3 junior guard Sammy Hunter (Huntsville, Ala./Grissom HS/Laurinberg Prep [N.C.]/Southeastern Illinois College), 6-foot-10 sophomore center Eze Samuel (Garki-Abuja, Nigeria/Sheridan [WY] Junior College) and 6-foot-8 sophomore guard/forward Chris Gonzales (Thornridge [IL] HS/Navarro [TX] Junior College) as players who will be able to play immediately for the Leathernecks.Mahorn (30th) and Gonzales (58th) are both ranked among the top 60 junior college players nationwide and HoopScoop ranks Western?s 2005 recruiting class as the 54th-best in the nation, ahead of Kentucky, Missouri, Texas and Wisconsin. Western?s class is also ranked as the best in the Mid-Continent Conference, 47 spots ahead of second-place UMKC.?This program is going nowhere but up,? Thomas said. ?My goal is to be in the top four in the Mid-Con every year and I think we?re on our way to getting there. We?ve added a lot of talent in this class to go along with our players who played a lot of minutes in a lot of games last season.?Western finished fifth in the Mid-Con last season and its eight-win turnaround was tied for the seventh-largest in the country, according to STATS, Inc.