Ton joins Turner’s staff at UCI

Ali Ton, an Orange County high school product who played at Davidson and professionally in Turkey before going into coaching, will join the UC Irvine men’s basketball staff as an assistant.

The official announcement is imminent as newly hired coach Russ Davis fills one spot on his staff that also includes returning assistant Doug Oliver.

Ton spent the last three seasons as an assistant at Radford. The former All-Orange County point guard at Los Alamitos High spent two seasons on the staff at Binghamton University and one season as an assistant at his alma mater.

Ton, who came to Los Alamitos from Turkey, is known as a recruiter with international contacts, an area Turner said he plans to explore as he tries to bolster the Anteaters’ roster in the coming years.

Ton coached the Turkey Under-20 national team in the 2005 European Championships and his father, Necmi Ton, is a professional coach in Turkey.

Ton, who committed to Wyoming out of high school, started for three seasons at Davidson, amassing 646 assists, which was the school record when he graduated in 1999. He averaged 7.9 assists as a senior, which ranked No. 3 in the nation. He earned All-Southern Conference recognition and was Davidson’s senior male athlete of the year.