La Roche Men's Basketball Is Loaded With The WPIAL Talent

Vincentian Academy basketball player Ethan Reed Embleton celebrates after winning the WPIAL 1A Boys' basketball championship back on Feb.27, 2020.

SOURCE: (TWITTER, @ethanreed321)

In the past three seasons, La Roche Men's basketball team has seen themselves in the Allegheny Mountain Collegiate Conference (AMCC) Men's basketball championship game.

In the 2017-18 season, La Roche won the 2018 AMCC Men's basketball championship game against Penn State Behrend by a score of 77-74. The Redhawks would then lose to John Hopkins in the first round of the NCAA Division III Men's basketball tournament.

In the 2018-19 season, La Roche lost the 2019 AMCC Men's basketball championship game against Penn State Behrend by a score of 67-65. However, the Redhawks would later bounce back in the following season, 2019-20, as they defeated Penn State Behrend by a score of 62-61 in the 2020 AMCC championship game. Unfortunately, the Redhawks then lost to Wittenberg in the first round of the NCAA Division III Men's basketball tournament.

The success that La Roche has had in the past three seasons in hosting three of the AMCC Men's basketball championships and winning two of them is very impressive. One of things that a lot of Redhawks fans might want to see from their La Roche Men's basketball team in the near future is for the team to win a game in the NCAA Division III Men's basketball tournament. That goal is very possible as La Roche should continue to be a dominant team in the near future.

Jakob Richardson and Jordan Grayson are both college basketball players that played in the WPIAL and will be juniors next school year in 2020-21. Richardson, a 2018 Seton LaSalle graduate, played his first two seasons of college basketball at Penn State New Kensington. Grayson, a 2018 McKeesport graduate, played his first two seasons of college basketball at Owens Community College, located in Perrysburg, Ohio. Both Richardson and Grayson have decided to transfer from there respected schools and attend La Roche in the 2020-21 school year and play college basketball.

La Roche should have a strong freshman class for next year. There have been a lot of high school seniors that are noticing how successful that La Roche has been in these past years that they have decided to commit La Roche. A lot of WPIAL basketball players from the Class of 2020 have decided to commit to La Roche and that's a good sign for the school and the WPIAL. These basketball players that are committed to La Roche knows the kind of success that the team has had that as a result, they want to be a part of it. With the amount of talent that they will have in the future, this team will soon realize that they might have a shot at winning the whole NCAA Division III Men's basketball tournament.

Ambridge senior Isaiah Thomas is one of the many basketball players from the Class of 2020 that is going to play college basketball at La Roche. This past WPIAL & PIAA basketball season, 2019-20, Isaiah's Ambridge Boys' basketball team had a section record of 7-5 and had an overall record of 11-9. Even though they did not make it to the postseason, the whole team was really talented. They finished above .500 in the section and that itself was impressive when they had to face teams, twice in a year, such as Quaker Valley, Blackhawk, New Castle, and Central Valley.

Ethan Reed Embleton was a big part of Vincentian Academy's 2019-20 WPIAL 1A Boys' basketball championship. He will be part of the last graduating class that will ever go through Vincentian Academy. Late in the month of February, it was announced that Vincentian Academy will close down after this school year. Ethan knowing that he helped Vincentian win another WPIAL basketball championship before the school closes down has to have made him feel good. He is just another high school senior from the WPIAL that will play college basketball at La Roche next year.

Carlynton's Boys' basketball team made a deep postseason run during this past season. They had an overall record of 16-10 as they even won a state playoff game against Ligonier Valley, a PIAA District 6 school that will enter the WPIAL next school year. Chauncie Mickens was part of that Carlynton basketball team as he averaged 20.6 points per game, highest on the team, during the regular season. He will play college basketball at La Roche next season.

Keystone Oaks senior Frank Stumpo was low-key one of the most underrated basketball players in the WPIAL. His ability to score a lot of points against opponents is literally insane. During the regular season, he averaged 24.3 points per game (7th in the WPIAL). Back in December 2019, Stumpo was named as a Pittsburgh Post-Gazette Athlete of the Week. Even though his Keystone Oaks basketball team did not make it to the WPIAL playoffs during this past season, he balled out and made a name for himself. He will take his talents to La Roche next school year.

South Fayette senior Connor Mislan and Montour senior James Eubanks are kind of familiar with each other. Their respected schools had to face each other in the WPIAL Boys' basketball regular season during the past two seasons. This past season, Eubanks averaged 17.8 points per game for Montour during the regular season while Mislan helped his South Fayette's team make it to the WPIAL playoffs. Mislan and Eubanks will not have to be rivals no more as they will play on the same basketball team next school year at La Roche.

Uniontown senior Billy DeShields averaged 19.1 points per game during the regular season and helped his basketball team win a section title in WPIAL Class 4A Section 3 with a 10-0 record. Billy's senior year of high school basketball ended too soon as his team lost in the WPIAL 4A Quarterfinals against Blackhawk. Even though his quest for winning a WPIAL basketball championship has ended, his quest for winning an AMCC and NCAA Division III championship has already started as he is probably looking forward to playing college basketball at La Roche next season.

Aliquippa senior Dewayne Revis was a multi-sport athlete in both basketball and football. Some people probably wondered which sport he would want to play in college. Well, he decided that he wanted to pursue in basketball in college and La Roche was the best fit for him. Revis had played in multiple WPIAL football championships at Aliquippa and even won one in 2018. This past WPIAL basketball season, Dewayne's Quips basketball team had an overall record of 17-10 as they lost in the WPIAL 3A semifinals to Lincoln Park and lost in a PIAA 3A second round matchup against North Catholic.

Besides all of the WPIAL basketball players from the Class of 2020 that will play La Roche next season, there are other WPIAL basketball players that currently play college basketball at La Roche. Jioni Smith (Moon Area), Joe Pipilo (Chartiers Valley), Jalen Brown (Freeport), Desmond Ross (Cornell), Austin Hannes (Knoch), and Tyler Frederick (Butler, who led La Roche in PPG with 18.9 during the 2019-20 season) were all on La Roche's 2020 AMCC championship team and they will all return next school year to try to repeat as AMCC champions.

With the amount of WPIAL talent that will be on La Roche's Men's basketball team next season, the similarity that a lot of them have of playing WPIAL basketball might help them connect with each other and have good chemistry. This team is loaded with WPIAL talent as they should be successful for years to come.

Brentaro Yamane: bkyamane@gmail.com and Twitter/Instagram @BYHilton13