PREP BOYS BASKETBALL: Eyes on the prize

Faith Lutheran seeking second straight state title

If Faith Lutheran's boys basketball team keeps improving at the rate it has over the last couple of years, teams in Class 4A best beware.

After winning the Class 3A championship last season in its first year after moving up from 2A, Faith Lutheran has its eyes on another state title this campaign and readied itself for Southern 3A play by scheduling 10 early games against 4A opponents in which the Crusaders went a very respectable 7-3.

Faith Lutheran's three losses -- and its only three of the year at press time -- were to No. 3 (Las Vegas Review-Journal's prep poll, Jan. 5) Mojave (52-50), No. 10 Centennial (49-47) and at Coronado (75-55).

Despite graduating Class 3A MVP and starting point guard Cameron Done along with John Onyema and Josh Washington, Faith Lutheran (15-3, 2-0 Southern 3A) returns most of its roster that beat Dayton, 63-48, in the state championship game last Feb. 26 at The Orleans Arena, including senior guard Tyler Norman, an All-State first-team selection who was leading the team in scoring to start this year.

Class 3A Coach of the Year Bret Walter, now in his ninth year at the helm of the private Summerlin school, talked about Norman's importance to his team's success this year.

"I start him at the point because he's our floor leader, he scores quite a few points for us," Walter said. "When we bring Kyle Desousa in, we move Tyler over to the three spot (swing position). But I'm trying to get him some more experience handling the basketball because if he does have the chance to continue on (playing in college), I want him to have a little more experience of having a little more pressure handling the basketball and I think that will help prepare him. He is pretty athletic -- one of the most athletic kids that we've had come through Faith since I've coached here. And he's probably the best defensive player to come through as well."

Norman, who Walter said is in contact with one Division I school and a couple of Division II schools about playing in college, showed off that athleticism and made a case that he may be the MVP in 3A this year with a Michael Jordan-like, back-to-the-basket three-point play, with the foul shot, and a monster slam dunk following a missed shot in the Crusaders 68-52 win over The Meadows on Jan. 10 in which he scored 18 points.

The Meadows' coach Greg Goorjian, whose team has developed a friendly rivalry with their fellow Summerlin private school, talked about the talented 6-foot-3-inch Norman.

"That one guy, Tyler Norman can really take a game over," Goorjian said. "He's got the ability to go from outside to inside and he can rebound extremely well. He's got really good hops. We usually don't see that type of player on the 2A level. And he's really tough on the offensive glass. If he misses his shot, he goes and gets it and puts it back in. He's really a talent at the 3A level."

Helping Norman and Faith Lutheran try to return to the state playoffs this year are a solid and experienced group that includes senior starters Chad Breeden and Jarid Rollins, junior Stephen McCall and sophomore Conner Maloney.

Walter talked about his team's depth and size this campaign.

"We're not quite as deep this year and we're not as big as last year," he said. "We just don't have as many big bodies."

But despite the perception his team is lacking in size, Walter does return a talented and experienced group that can all score when necessary.

Two players who had impressed Walter with their offense were Maloney and McCall, who had 18 and 16 points respectively in Faith Lutheran's victory over the Mustangs Jan. 10.

"Stephen has really emerged for us this year," Walter said of guard McCall. "He's a scorer. He shoots the ball very well. And Conner Maloney has developed for us. He's young, and he'll have to match up with the other teams' fours (power forwards). But he's a good player and has a very nice shot."

With Breeden (6-5), Maloney (6-3) and Norman (6-3) providing size, Faith Lutheran will provide matchup problems for a lot of teams in 3A that don't have their kind of height. And with a veteran and experienced bench that includes seniors Luke Hansen and Brandon Lake, juniors Kyle Desousa, Dave Anderson, Markus Ebrecht, Greg Daubs, Karl Behringer and Ryan Becklean, Walter can effectively rotate players in and out, and should wear 3A opponents out with his depth.

Faith Lutheran, which finished 26-3 last year and only had one loss to a 3A school (Moapa Valley), began conference play on Jan. 6 with a 73-40 pasting of Moapa Valley in Overton as Norman led all scorers with 18 points and McCall had 14 for the Crusaders who got their first win in the Pirates gym in Walter's tenure as coach.

After winning state, in which the Crusaders outscored their opponents by an average of 19 points per game -- the highest of any Nevada high school in the postseason -- Faith Lutheran will certainly be deemed the team to beat in the Southern 3A which includes Pahrump Valley (11-3 overall), Virgin Valley (12-6), Boulder City (4-15) and Moapa Valley (2-9).

Walter was more concerned about his team playing up to its potential than focusing on one specific team in the Southern 3A.

"We're mostly worried about being ready to play every night and taking care of what we can first, that's our biggest concern," Walter said. "We know that a lot of these teams that are playing in our conference are capable of putting something together and they have been around a long time so you have to be ready to play every time you come out."

And proving the point that the Crusaders can likely play with almost any team in any class in the Silver State was a Jan. 9 state poll by MaxPreps.com in which the Crusaders were ranked No. 18 in the state, the highest ranking of any 3A team. Other 3A teams ranked in the top 50 in Nevada by the Web site at press time were the Northern 3A's Dayton (No. 28), Yerrington (No. 39), Sparks, (No. 43), and Southern schools Virgin Valley (No. 42) and Pahrump Valley (No. 45).

With two teams from the Southern 3A and two teams from the Northern 3A qualifying for the state playoffs, which will be held at Reno's Lawlor Events Center Feb. 23-25, Faith Lutheran is in a good position to return to state this season and would be considered by most as the favorite in the class.

The coach and athletic director at Faith Lutheran knows very well his team may end up locking horns with the same team it faced in last year's finals in Dayton (10-4), a team he saw play earlier this season.

"We saw Dayton play when we played at a tournament in Minden in Douglas County," Walter commented. "They got a transfer from Liberty High School (Jordan Stokes) who is their best player. I don't think they're a lot better than they were last year. I think that we can match up with them."

And with Dayton having lost its two best players, Danny Hopper and Trent Wood, to graduation, it seems that the team to emerge as the top-seed from the South should be the clear-cut favorite up North. But any coach or player who has made that trek to the northern parts of our great state to play in a state tournament in any sport knows how tough the travel and the time away from home can change one's outlook on winning the big game.

Walter and his team will try to qualify for state at the 3A Southern playoffs, which will be held Feb. 16 and 18 at Del Sol High School.

After playing its last 4A opponent in Canyon Springs on Jan. 21, Faith Lutheran returns home Friday night to host Moapa Valley in a 3A Southern match-up before traveling to The Meadows (12-3) on Tuesday for its third meeting with its longtime suburban rival.