Las Vegas Sun

March 28, 2024

New league presents new challenge for Faith Lutheran basketball

2016 Las Vegas Sun HS Basketball Media Day

Christopher DeVargas

Faith Lutheran High School Boys Basketball, from left, Elijah Kothe, Jaylen Fox and Nic Maccioni participate in the Las Vegas Sun Media day at The South Point, Wed Nov. 16, 2016.

2016 Las Vegas Sun HS Basketball Media Day

Foothill High School Boys Basketball, from left, Jace Roquemore, Marvin Coleman and Mauricio Smith participate in the Las Vegas Sun Media day at The South Point, Wed Nov. 16, 2016. Launch slideshow »

The Faith Lutheran basketball team expects to make an impact this season in their return to the large-school classification.

Despite retuning just two starters from last season’s 19-8 team, the Crusaders are ranked in the preseason top-10 and expected to challenge for a playoff spot.

“Moving up into the new league you have to be ready to play every night,” said Bret Walter, Faith Lutheran’s veteran head coach. “If you don’t bring it and you’re not ready to play then there’s a good chance you’re going to get beat.”

The team has only one senior in Bishop Gorman transfer Nic Maccioni, who had to sit-out last season per state transfer rules.

“We look at it as a great opportunity for us to just win some games and compete at the next level,” Maccioni said of the transition to the 4A.

At 6-foot-4 Maccioni is one of the biggest players on a severely undersized Crusaders lineup. The senior forward led them to a 71-64 win over Sierra Vista in the season opener with 28 points and 20 rebounds.

“We are going to play a little bit faster than we have traditionally,” Walter said. “We’re a little bit smaller so we’ll try to spread the floor out a little bit more and push the basketball to speed the tempo up.”

Juniors Elijah Kothe and Jaylen Fox could benefit most from the up-and-down style the Crusaders hope to play.

“It’s really exciting because when you play up-tempo it’s really fun,” Fox said. “I think we are going to be really good on offense, and then we will have to focus on defense and rebounding because we’re a little smaller. We are going to have to rebound and box out to compete with those bigger guys.”

Faith Lutheran finished only one game behind eventual state champion Clark High in the 3A Sunset league last season. The Crusaders don’t receive any breaks as they join perennial contenders Centennial in the Northwest league this year.

“We want to certainly make the postseason and get into the mix of that but to get there we need to start off our season with some energy,” Walter said.

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