MEDICAL LAKE — The turnaround the Medical Lake boys’ basketball team made in 2023-24 was quite remarkable under first-year coach Brett Ward.
Ward — who moved from the girls bench last year as their head coach with the departure of Jordan Starr back to his home territory at Selah — helped orchestrate the program going from 1-19 in 2022-23 to 8-14 this season.
The Cardinals went from 1-11 in Northeast A League play to 6-6 this season, qualifying not only for the playoffs but getting within a game of qualifying for state.
The heavy lifting was done across the board, Ward explained. “Hard work and preparation,” he wrote in an email, was the foundation.
“We put in more or as much work as any team in the area since June,” Ward said. “We continued to work and get better each day,” adding “Some people stop working when it gets tough and this group did the opposite.”
Specifically, there were the seniors, six of them, who were at the heart of things.
“They helped lay the foundation that will get our program back to greatness,” Ward said. “Cody (Petersen), Mav (Rasmussen) and Taylor (Oliver) started almost every game and Alex (Grubaugh), Josh (Henry), and Kolten (Reid) were major contributors.”
The team did their part in galvanizing the community to the program. “The community was so excited by the things we were doing at the end of the year,” Ward said.
Despite the experience the seniors provided, Ward said the depth the Cardinals had both played into this season’s successes and for the road ahead.
“What I will say is we had a ton of depth this year,” Ward said.
One of the most difficult things for him was figuring out who to play. “Our 13th best player wasn’t much different than our third best players” Ward said.
While there will be less depth next year, Medical Lake has a core of seven with varsity experience returning plus some JVs ready to contribute at the varsity level.
Aidan Suddeth and Chuks Okembgo will continue to be starters and important players, Ward predicted. “Aidan can be all league next year and I think Chuks could have been the defensive player of the year this year in our league; he’s that good,” their coach said.
“As for the gaps, I expect Lebo Holloway, Austin Michaud, Jacob Puckett and Jay Lundberg to compete for the three remaining starting spots,” Ward said. “All of those kids can shoot the ball and make plays, all had good moments throughout the year.”
Tysan Newman will be a key reserve and “Shawn Herron is the toughest kid in our program and will be ready for varsity basketball next year as a junior,” Ward said.
The trimmed-down Northeast A League, which goes from seven to four teams after reclassification, gives Ward the confidence to expect more improvement.
“I think this team can compete for a 1A league title if we continue to work hard and improve,” Ward said. “If we don’t, then it won’t happen, but the potential is there and I hope that motivates our kids to show up every day this spring, summer, and fall.”
Reader Comments(0)