Baltimore became somewhat of a second home for Erik Etherly before his senior year of high school.

In the summer, the 6-foot-7, 200-pound small forward made an almost daily hour-long trek from his Annandale, Va., home up to Baltimore to play with the Team Melo AAU program.

After one year of college basketball at Northeastern University in Boston, Etherly is all set to return to his home away from home. The former two-star prospect received a release from Northeastern and will continue his basketball career at Loyola.

“Everybody’s kind of like, ‘hey, welcome back home,’ even though I’m from Virginia,” Etherly said. “In the summer time, Baltimore almost felt like home, too. It was a good experience there. So everybody’s kind of happy to see me come back home.”

As a freshman for the Huskies, Etherly appeared in 12 games and shot 50 percent from the field. He started playing more as the season progressed, including a career-high 11 minutes in Northeastern’s first-round matchup with Wyoming in the College Basketball Invitation. He would’ve been counted on to play a larger role for the Huskies as a sophomore. But Etherly said he was looking for a different style of play, so his mind was made up on transferring. Loyola was the logical destination.

“Actually [Loyola was] the first phone call I made after getting my release. [Greyhounds coach Jimmy Patsos] seemed so excited,” Etherly said. “[Loyola] was actually my second choice to Northeastern [coming out of high school]. Right now I can’t even tell you why I picked Northeastern over Loyola. When I made the decision, Northeastern seemed better but I don’t know why. I can’t even really explain it.”

Etherly, who had 17 scholarship offers as a senior, will redshirt next season per NCAA transfer rules. He’ll have three years of eligibility remaining starting with the 2010-2011 season.

• It was a busy weekend for Terps shooting guard target Lance Stephenson.

The Brooklyn (N.Y.) Lincoln standout hosted Kansas coach Bill Self for an in-home visit on Friday and later tripped with his family to nearby St. John’s for an official visit.

SNY.tv’s Adam Zagoria reports that Stephenson’s decision could come soon.

Lance Stephenson was courted by both Kansas coach Bill Self and St. John’s coach Norm Roberts this weekend and it appears that he will choose between those two schools in the coming days.

• The stock of Lake Clifton shooting guard and UM target Will Barton is on the rise after this weekend.

The five-star prospect suited up for Nike Baltimore Elite at the Boo Williams AAU tournament in Hampton, Va. Barton earned rave reviews from Rivals.com after the first day of tournament play.

This long shooting guard was right with [Marquis] Teague in the excitement category. Barton put on a scoring clinic in the span of about 15 minutes in a tough Baltimore Elite loss to Albany City Rocks. A high level scorer who is poised to shoot up the rankings, Barton finished with an impressive 19 points.

Barton scored 30 against Louisiana Select on Day Two.