Summit’s varsity boys basketball team is firing on all cylinders as they continue on their mission to win it all. The Storm currently sit at 3-1 with their lone loss coming at the hands of top 10 6A Roosevelt High in a narrow 48-54 loss . Success is familiar to the Storm in recent years, the team finishing with more wins than losses in each of the past four seasons, and reached the state finals the past two. A championship continues to elude the team having come up short against Wilsonville last year, and Tualatin the year before that.
“The key is going to be preparation early into the season to be successful later on,” said senior Mac Bledsoe.
In fact, you could make the argument that the Storm have been preparing for this moment for close to a decade.
Many members of this season’s varsity team have been playing together since their time together at the youth level on the Summit Select (formerly COBO) developmental team.
“I think it plays in a lot (to our success)” said Bledsoe. “I’m very confident in my teammates and I think it shows in practices and during games.”
This trust has led to some incredible performances. During the first four games the Storm have averaged 60.25 points per game while holding opponents to just 48.75 points on average, planting the team squarely in the conversation as one of the best teams in Oregon.
This momentum has Summit riding high on their way to their first ever Les Schwab invitational where they will face teams from across the country at Liberty High School in Hillsboro from December 26-30. The tournament has featured names like Kevin Love, Payton Pritchard and Jaylen Brown over its 27 year history, and this season the Storm hope to stand out.
According to Bledsoe, who spent a year at Eagle High School in Idaho, “the thing that stands out to me about Summit is the coaching staff. The support from them has boosted me during the season for sure.”
Summit’s stellar coaching staff includes head coach and four time conference coach of the year Joe Frazier, former Linfield captain Joe Wells and former Summit three sport athlete and member of the first Storm league championship team Kai Robinson. The incredibly experienced coaching staff coupled with a team performing on all levels makes Summit THE team to watch this basketball season.
