2018-19 Team Preview: La Salle Lightning

Key Players

PG Kieran Kershaw - First Team All League returner. A playmaking point guard with an aggressive mentality. Will draw a lot of attention, which should give his teammates open looks.

PF/C Sahill Randhawa - Newcomer from East Valley. Has played with Kershaw in the past on the AAU circuit, so the chemistry is already there. Dynamic big man that can score, rebound, and defend the rim.

SF Nathan Sedgwick - Going to do a little bit of everything. Can play stout defense and also shoot the three. Had quality minutes as a sophomore, and that should increase.

Overview

La Salle is a school that's on the rise in athletics.

Their football team has made the state playoffs two of the past three seasons. The girls soccer team also won state this past Fall.

Basketball may be the next team added to that list. They return a strong nucleus, and added All League level talent in the off-season.

Head coach Mike Glazier returns for his fourth season in charge. He made the state playoffs in 2015, but has since tailed off with a 20-25 record.

A huge goal for this group is going to be beating Zillah. It's something they've never done before.

La Salle's franchise guy, Kieran Kershaw, believes they have the roster construction to at least give them a fighting chance.

Kershaw is as consistent as they come. La Salle will need him fully healthy the entire season.

It's never a bad thing to add a 6-5 athlete like Sahill Randhawa. He's a highly experienced senior, and should be a state sheet stuffer.

Another couple starters returning are Nathan Sedgwick and and Hayden Seaman.

Sedgwick is a creative scoring type that can drive inside. Seaman is more of a catch and shoot guy that will hang around the perimeter.

Youth will highlight the bench, as a couple sophomores are set to be apart of the second unit.

Gunner Gaethle and Dominic Sadeddin are both transfers from West Valley. They'll be guard types that'll rotate at either backcourt spot.

Also returning on varsity will be Payton Esquivel and Sam Bartles. They're highly dependable vets that excel in ball distribution.

For several years now, La Salle has slowed it down on offense and run their plays. But in order to compete with other powerhouses, they plan on running the floor now.

What's impressive about the Lightning is the size of their school. They're realistically a 2B school playing up at 1A.

They have about 150 students, yet over 40 of them came out for football this past Fall.

It shows the well rounded individuals La Salle is attempting to develop. Not even a cheap plug, just an analysis.

Projection: The elephant in the room for the Lightning is obviously Zillah. There's no point in hiding that they are the team to beat. Not only will La Salle have to beat them, but they'll likely have to be near perfect in the rest of their schedule. One thing they have going for them is about 75% of the roster is coming back. Improvement is almost guaranteed. Combine that with the influx of new talent, and you've got a high quality 1A team.

Key Games

@ West Valley 12/7

Zillah 12/18

Naches Valley 1/12

For more Eastside team previews, follow me on Twitter! @micah_chen