CEDAR FALLS - Antonio Jones took the scenic route to Division I basketball.

In fact, Jones had to travel nearly 3,800 miles to reach his lifelong destination.

Wednesday, the 6-foot-4 and 200-pound guard from Chicago will sign a letter of intent with the University of Northern Iowa basketball program during the first day of the spring signing period.

"I've been dreaming about this for the last 10 years," said Jones, who gave UNI a verbal commitment Monday. "I've worked my butt off since day one for this opportunity. The support system I've had back home has been great, and they've stayed behind me through good and bad."

After graduating from Marshall High School in Chicago four years ago, Jones spent a season at prep school in Troy, N.Y., at Redemption Christian Academy. From there, he went to Western Nebraska Community College in Scottsbluff, Neb., for a season.

Then, after sitting out a year, Jones transferred to Coffeyville Community College this past year and was the team's second-leading scorer at 11.5 points per game.

"He's an energy guy," Coffeyville head coach Jay Herkelman said. "He really plays hard. When he's on the floor, he's trying to make things happen.

"He's a little different than anybody UNI has right now. He can attack, get in the lane and get to the rim. He has good size, he's strong, very athletic and has an aggressive mindset when he attacks."

Jones said he was also being recruited by Bradley, Illinois State, Texas-El Paso, Texas Christian, Loyola-Chicago and Troy State. He took an official visit to UNI last Friday.

"UNI was my first visit," he said, "and there wasn't any reason for me to visit anywhere else. Everything I wanted was right there in Cedar Falls."

Jones shot nearly 46 percent from the field this past season, including 37 percent (41 of 112) from the 3-point line. He also had 74 assists and averaged more than three rebounds per game.

Herkelman, who has been at Coffeyville for the past 14 seasons and produced Division I players such as Iowa's Reggie Evans, Illinois State's Boo Richardson and Anthony Slack and Wisconsin's Roy Boone, believes Jones will be a perfect fit for a UNI club that returns nine of its top 10 players from a 23-win season.

The lone departure is Travis Brown, a 6-3 guard.

"Antonio can really move his feet defensively, and he likes to take on the challenge of guarding really good players," Herkelman said. "I think the transition for Antonio going there will be pretty smooth."

Jones had an opportunity to watch UNI several times this past season, including the Valley tournament title game against Illinois State and the NCAA Tournament opener versus Purdue.

"I think I can put my two cents in for this team," Jones said. "I'm not just a one-dimensional player.

"Watching tape on UNI this year, I'm the missing piece for that team. I don't care about the individual accolades or scoring a bunch of points, but I can help this team get back to the tournament with the energy I'll bring and being a lock-down defender."

Contact Matt Coss at (319) 291-1468 or matt.coss@wcfcourier.com