6'9'' Josh Hawkinson
Photo Credit: shorelineareanews.com

The Shorewood High School basketball team was one of the best in all of the WestCo conference last season led by thier star forward, Josh Hawksinson, who averaged 18 PPG. I recently had a chance to catch up with the touted prospect and ask him a few questions about his college options, skill set, and summer basketball plans. 

SeaTown: What would you consider your strengths and weaknesses on the court?

Josh: My strength is my diversity. I can score in the post, but then I can step back and hit 3’s and outside shots. So I feel like I’m hard to guard because of that and it makes me a threat. While I can get better at things, I really don’t have a glaring weakness.

                                                                                    Photo Credit: Be Recruited

The Seattle Prep Panthers baseball team is one of the best teams in the Metro League this year, led not only by their outstanding pitching, but also their star hitter in Nick Pribble. Last year Pribble helped the Panthers win last year's league title when he hit a walk-off homerun in the Metro Championship against O’Dea. I had a chance to talk with the senior about his team’s success this year and his future. 

SeaTown Sports: Seattle Prep is considered by many to be the best team in Metros. What has been the key to your team's success?

Nick Pribble: There are a few things that have helped us have the success we’ve had this year. First off everybody on the team wants to win. Prep baseball and Coach Paulter have had a legacy of winning and our team does not want to have anything different. Our coaches and players have very high expectations for the team and everyone is willing to contribute to accomplish our goals. Next it is very helpful that we are returning almost everyone from last year. We lost a few key players but we have really filled up those holes in our lineup. We have young kids stepping up like Stuart Fairchild and Will Hall and the juniors and seniors of the team are doing everything they were expected to do and more. The third key thing I think would have to be our pitching staff. The staff is deep this year. We always have great starts from Max, Jack and Nate and when they’re finished it’s no problem handing the ball to who I think are the two best relievers in the league, Brady Price and Gavin Lewis. We have a lot of confidence this year in everyone and I think that will help us to keep winning.

SeaTown: What will you guys have to do capture a 2nd straight Metro title, and even a berth to State?

Pribble: We need to keep working and keep getting better in every area of the game. I think that this is very possible for us to do. We see every day as a new opportunity to get better. Whether we’re out at Steve Cox or running stairs on a rainy day, we’re getting better. We have to play more consistent as well. We have shown that we can blow out some very good teams, and we need to keep on doing this to show everyone that it is our Metro Title for the taking. As long as we keep doing this, I think we have a very good chance of playing in the final 4 later this year. 

The Enumclaw Hornets made the WIAA 3A State Baseball Quarterfinals last year. Now they will try to improve on that mark this seaosn. I had the chance to ask their head coach Eric Fiedler a few questions about his team via email.

SeaTown Sports: You have a senior laden roster this season. What is their mindset in their final year of high school ball?

Eric Fiedler: "Senior Laden" is too strong of a phrase for our roster. We have 7 seniors and 7 underclassmen, which is a nice mix. All but one of our 7 seniors are competing on varsity for the first time on a regular basis and they are out to prove that they belong at this level.

SeaTown: The Hornets are off to a strong start. What is the key to maintaining this play heading into the meat of the SPSL schedule?

Fiedler: Playing good defense and having our pitchers throw strikes will determine the winner in most games. We will swing it as well as anybody in our league and we will have to minimize mistakes to overcome our varsity inexperience.

SeaTown: In the end, what is the key to improving on a quarterfinal finish in the state tournament last year?

Fiedler: To reach that level, we will have to grow as a team and believe that we can compete with the best in the state. We have solid competition going on within our own team. The confidence gained from that will have to make our players believe that we can compete against anyone.

SeaTown: If possible, can you provide an update on if any of your players possible commitment statuses for college?

Fiedler: Tyler Carlson, Sr., OF, WSU commit

                                                                                 Photo Credit: Associated Press

The Western Washington University men’s basketball team won their first national championship, defeating Montevallo (Ala.) in the title game. Longtime Vikings head coach Brad Jackson was nice enough to spend a few minutes on the phone with me to discuss their championship season.

SeaTown Sports: Overall, what’s the reception been like back on campus?

Coach Brad Jackson: It’s been great. I think it’s just been an accomplishment that our community is excited about. They’re proud of players. This is a great basketball area and we’ve had great fans for a long time and I think it has just been really gratifying.

SeaTown: How does the team feel overall by winning the first national championship in men’s basketball in program history?

Jackson: They feel great. This is a team that got better as the season went on. I think they showed a great deal of mental toughness and determination. I told them after the game this is something that’ll get bigger and bigger as time goes on, but it’s a tremendous accomplishment, one of which they can be very proud. I think they’re really enjoying everything that’s gone with it and that they can represent their university and community in our area.

SeaTown: Going back to the title game, Montevallo was able to take a lead early in the second half. How was your team able to respond so well and pull away in the final stages?

Jackson: I thought that was a key time in the game. We had a lead; they came back and went up by five or so. The first part of that is this team was very mentally tough. They very rarely got rattled. I think we were able to mentally weather that storm. And then we came back and hit a couple of big shots. I didn’t sense any panic or concern on their part. But when we did retake the lead, and it was maybe only a couple of minutes, I felt like that was a big turning point in the game emotionally. Once we did that, it seemed that our guys gained even more confidence and began to stretch it out a little bit.

SeaTown: In the final couple of minutes, there were a couple of slight miscues that kept Montevallo in it. How was your team able to stay composed and knock down some key free throws down the stretch?

Jackson: I’m not sure how necessarily, but that was kind of the way our team operated. Throughout the course of the year we had quite a number of games that were fairly close. We were not a team that blew people out. I think we were pretty comfortable in that situation. We were concerned with a couple of those turnovers. But I think we felt that if we could get the ball in the hands of the right people and get to the line, we had a pretty good shot at it. John Allen is usually the guy we look to go to and he did a great job. Once we got into that position when we were getting to the free throw line, our players were pretty comfortable.

                                                                                Photo Credit: mtsihsbaseball.com

The Mt. Si Wildcats won the 2011 WIAA 3A State Baseball Championship in head coach Elliott Cribby's first season. This year, the Wildcats are nationally ranked and will not be taken lightly by any team on their schedule. They're off to a 4-1 start and open up KingCo Conference play against Bellevue on Monday. We had the chance to interview Coach Cribby via email, and here's what he had to say about his team's mindset this season. A full article on the team will debut early next week.

Seatown Sports: After winning the state championship last season, has it been difficult to keep your team motivated to do the same this year?

Elliott Cribby: After winning the State Championship last year a lot has changed in the Snoqualmie Valley, but the one constant factor that hasn't is the work ethic that Mount Si Baseball thrives on. One of the hardest things to do in team sports is repeat as Champions and we are very poised to make another run at it this year. There are a few new faces to the team this year, which makes them even hungrier for another State Championship!

Read the full interview after the jump!

Eastside Catholic’s basketball program is on the rise with the help of new head coach Bill Liley and star player Joey Schreiber. Schreiber is a senior forward who has led this team to an 8-3 overall record. The senior is averaging about 19 points a game, and is a pain to guard downlow. I had the opportunity to talk with Schreiber about recruiting and his team's success. Read it after the jump.

SeaTown Sports had the lucky opportunity to cover the Hoops 206 Charity Basketball Classic at Key Arena yesterday. We caught up with a couple of local basketball stars to get their thoughts on the Seattle basketball scene and their glory days in high school. See our short interviews with Rodney Stuckey, Spencer Hawes, Tony Wroten Jr. and Mitch Johnson after the jump.

SeaTown Sports got the opportunity to interview Marcus Trufant after his appearance on Cliqvue's Sports Talk Show, "Off the Cuff with Moore and Huff." What follows is a quick conversaition with Trufant about his offseason and a couple of other topics. Read the interview after the jump.
no comments

Soon to be Senior, Sekou "Suki" Wiggs from O'Dea high school will be one of the top basketball players in the state of Washington next season.  The Fighting Irish finished fourth in the 3A state tournament last March and are looking to win it all next season. We ranked Wiggs No. 19 in our high school basketball player rankings last February. Wiggs was also included on the AP all-state team as an honorable mention. We had the opportunity to talk to Wiggs about his game and his current recruitment. Read our interview after the jump.

Not all of the basketball talent in Washington resides in the Seattle metro area. Caleb Dressler from Evergreen high school in Vancouver is a prime example of this. Dressler was ranked No. 14 overall in our Washington high school player rankings back in February. He averaged 17 points, 14.5 rebounds, and 2.5 blocks per game at Evergreen this past season. We caught up with Dressler to talk about his game and his current recruitment. Check out our interview with him after the jump.