Clark basketball eager to compete against Gorman in new classification

By Ray Brewer (contact)

Tuesday, April 12, 2016 | 2 a.m.

Clark High basketball coach Chad Beeten doesn’t hide his desires for the Chargers’ program: He wants to be the first locally to dethrone Bishop Gorman.

He will get that opportunity next season.

The Nevada Interscholastic Activities Association’s Board of Control determined last week that Clark will be promoted to the large-school classification when it realigns for the 2016-17 school year. Clark has won the past three Division I-A state championships; Gorman is the five-time defending Division I champs and a national brand.

“If you are a true competitor, you want to play the best of the best,” Beeten said. “Gorman is the benchmark. We would love to compete with them.”

Many coaches don’t share Beeten’s mentality — they loathe playing Gorman. The Gaels haven’t lost to a Las Vegas opponent since 2009, and have had four McDonald’s All-Americans and more than a dozen Division I signees since 2012. While they’ve been challenged into the fourth quarter a few times, most notably by in 2014 andlast winter by Centennial, more times than not Gorman wins by the mercy rule of a running clock.

But Clark knows it can compete.

In the season before Clark was assigned to the lower Division I-A, it led Gorman by double-digits in the first half before fading late in a 12-point loss. If Shabazz Muhammad, who now averages nearly 10 points per game for the Minnesota Timberwolves, didn’t score 41, Clark likely would have won.

“We knew they were going to be ready,” Gorman coach Grant Rice said that night. “They’ve been waiting for this game for a while. Coach (Chad) Beeten is doing an absolutely great job with this program. It seems like it’s re-vitalized this school with the crowd here and the fans. These were the best fans I’ve seen.”

Clark, who posted a 75-17 record and went 27-1 in league games over the past three seasons, will again be waiting. And, you can argue, they’ll have just as much younger talent.

The Chargers, for some, were the surprise state champions last season because it started two freshmen and a sophomore, and gave other underclassmen regular minutes. In the state championship game, they contained a Desert Pines squad with three Division I recruits, showing one last time they’d be a force in the top classification.

Using the Nevada Rubric, a point system that classifies schools based on results of all sports,, Clark and Faith Lutheran accumulated enough points through championships and other high finishes the past two seasons to be promoted.

“If you want to be the best you have to beat the best,” Beeten said.

Preparing to beat the best will be easier said than done. Gorman’s Chuck O’Bannon and Centennial Troy Brown Jr. are two of the nation’s top 2017 recruits, and Gorman and Centennial are the two favorites to reach the state championship game. Winning another championship, at least next season, won’t be easy.

“That is the one thing with our program, we’ve had a real consistent approach with preparation,” Beeten said. “We won’t do anything different.”

And if the Chargers don’t alter how they do things, they might find themselves back in a familiar spot each February — making a deep playoff run.

“It’s certainly a challenge. But we are all excited about the challenge and ready for it,” Beeten said.

Ray Brewer can be reached at 702-990-2662 or [email protected]. Follow Ray on Twitter at twitter.com/raybrewer21