(La Porte County, IN) - The boys’ high school basketball team at La Lumiere with practically all new faces is off to an undefeated start to the season.
Head Coach Pat Holmes believes this year’s team has what it takes to get the program back into the national tournament and win it again. The Lakers were not among the eight teams receiving bids for last year’s tournament, which the Lakers won in 2017.
“This is the most talented team we’ve had in a while, the last five or six years. I really like this group,” he said.
The Lakers opened the season on November 7 with a 98-70 win at home against Bosco Institute from Crown Point, Ind. Two more home games ended in blowout victories the following week against Jordan Christian Prep out of Florida and Stony Brook School from New York.
The La Lumiere roster includes 6’3” point guard Jonathan Sanders, a lightning quick senior from Ann Arbor, Michigan and center Gon Solango, a 7’ foot, 270 pound senior from Mongolia. Sanders and Solango are committed to play next season at the University of Notre Dame.
Jacob Wheeler, a 6’6” senior forward from Nebraska and Rivers Knight, a 6’9” senior forward from North Carolina have signed to play next season at Purdue University.
Another senior, Gabe Weiss, a 6’7” forward, has committed to the University of Western Kentucky.
The roster also includes a number of highly ranked juniors such as 6’3” Devin Cleveland out of Chicago; 6’2” Peyton Kemp from the Detroit area and 6’8” Ferlandes Wright from Louisville, Kentucky.
Despite 11 new members on the team, Holmes said the players seem to have gelled quickly and embraced their individual roles on the court.
“They’re a very competitive group, which is what we needed,” he said.
Holmes said the team last year didn’t perform as well as expected and hopes the fast start this year will lead to a second national championship banner going up inside Marsch Gymnasium.
“We need another one. We got the group who can do it. Got to stay healthy but we got talented guys that play really well together and have a chance to beat anyone in the country,” he said.
