Medical Lake expect to climb this season

MEDICAL LAKE - The old saying that there's nowhere to go but up was perfectly applied to the 2023-24 edition of Medical Lake boys basketball.

Under new head coach Brett Ward, the Cardinals made great strides from a dismal 1-19 campaign in 2022-23.

Ward, who transitioned to the boy's bench after having coached the ML girls, helped guide his team to an 8-15 overall mark and a berth in the playoffs following a 6-6, fourth-place finish in the Northeast A League.

"We ended up one game short of getting a crossover game to go to state, but a big improvement from a one-win team the year before," Ward wrote in an email. "We started off slow last season but made a great charge in league play."

Much of Medical Lake's success can be attributed to All-NEA selection Mavrick Rasmussen who, following graduation, is not playing collegiately at Pacific University according to Ward.

Another senior, Cody Peterson was also a solid contributor last season.

Medical Lake welcomes back a pair of role players in Aidan Suddeth and Chuks Okembgo, however, the latter looks to be sidelined for an unknown timeline, Ward indicated. Okembgo is getting wrist surgery soon and will be out for quite a while, Ward said.

"The most important thing at this point will be replacing Chuks," Ward said. "He was our best defender and energy guy."

Lebo Holloway, AJ Michaud, Jay Lundberg and Tysan Newman are other varsity returners who will be looked upon to fill the void.

"The main story line is going to be meshing the experienced vets with talented freshmen," Ward said. "We have some very good returners. But we also have one of the best freshmen classes in the entire area regardless of classification."

New faces include Shawn Herron who is going to make the jump from JV to varsity and "Is ready to contribute," Ward said.

"We also have a very special freshmen class," Ward said. "Four of them will be full time varsity players and a few of them will likely start," Ward said.

The group includes Gabe Smith, Hudson Gilbert, Owen Moffat, and Grant Moffat. "They are ready for varsity action already," Ward said.

Like other programs, Medical Lake has an ambitious off-season program.

"We do a ton in the off-season," Ward explained. "In April and May we have open gyms where the kids play games three or four times a week."

In June the focus is the start of practicing for real. "We practice every day until school is out and on weekends we have tournaments," Ward said.

"Once school is out, we start lifting four days a week with an hour or two of skill development afterward," Ward said. This Goes all the way until the end of July. There's time off in August but once September hits we are busy again.

In September and October players lift weights two days a week, have open gym two days a week and one day of conditioning. Top players participate in a fall league with a few games a week as well, Ward noted.

"We work very hard, probably spending more time than about any team in our area," Ward said.

Ward has high aspirations for his team in the greatly contracted Northeast A League which lost Deer Park to the Greater Spokane League as well as Freeman and Newport to the Northeast B.

"I think you're going to see our team improve in a lot of ways," he said. "The work we put in as a program will pay off. We are young but have an opportunity to do some great things."