The 2022 Las Positas men’s basketball team had its historic season come to an end on Friday, March 5, after losing 77-64 to a strong West L.A. team. Both teams repped a 27-3 record ahead of their match- up against each other in the California Community College State Basketball Championship tournament held at West Hills College in Lemoore, California.
The Hawks were able to mount a second-half comeback in their previ- ous game against the Columbia Claim Jumpers, courtesy of the usual LPC offen- sive threats in Jordahn Johnson, Lee Jones Jr. and Dathan Satchell. Sophomore vet-
erans Nikko Echalas, Johnson and Satchell would yet again be promi- nent figures for the Hawks against the West L.A. Wildcats, but couldn’t take care of the score themselves.
Despite coming up just a bit short against West L.A., the three sophomore guards have proven all season long to be key contributors towards LPC’s offense. There will be some pretty big shoes to fill in the coming season once the three guards transfer. Afterall, Jones Jr. and Satchell were named 2022 Coast-North All-Conference First-Team players.
Echalas, 5’9” and 170-lbs guard, played 20 games in his first season with LPC, recording 91 points overall and converting on 40.5% of all field-goals attempted, along with 61 assists, 33 rebounds, 20 steals and one block. In
the 2021-22 season, he would go on to play in 29 games, recording 73 points overall, with an improved field-goals attempted rate of 50%. He also collected 99 assists, 27 rebounds, 22 steals and one block.
Jones Jr., 6’ and 170-lbs guard, played 28 games in his first season with LPC, record- ing 275 points overall and converting on 44.3% of all field-goals attempted, along with 128 assists, 74 rebounds, 40 steals and four blocks. In his 2021-22 season, he played 29 games and would also see an increase in his offensive stats, recording 342 points overall, with an improved field- goals attempted rate of 54.5%. He also col- lected 170 assists, 61 rebounds, 29 steals and two blocks.
Satchell, the 6’3” and 215-lbs guard,
played 26 games during the 2021-22 sea- son, his first and only season at LPC, recording 360 points overall and convert- ing on 47.8% of all field-goals attempted, along with 31 assists, 75 rebounds, 10 steals and nine blocks.
The three sophomores combined for 21 points, five rebounds, three assists, one steal, no blocks and four turnovers in the final game against West L.A. However, they were all over the game and kept creating chances for themselves and their teammates.
“For the first time this year, we turned the ball over more than we’ve ever done and we just missed shots that we nor- mally would make,” said Giacomazzi. And that was the case for most of the roster that game, including Satchell. “He’s been immense all season. What a great player, great kid and great family. Really loved having him in the program. Unfortunately, we needed a special day…He’s got some good legs and just, normally makes ones that would go in, like that one right before halftime, unfortunately it just didn’t go in forus.”
Satchell, who previously played at Casper Community College, averaged 13.8 points per game and shot 47.8% for all attempted field goals this season. Something he’s proud of, but not as much as he is about how he was able to excel off the court as well. “I’m blessed that the bas- ketball side of things has always took care of itself. I’ve had D1 Interest and offers at my previous JuCo, I just needed to get all my credits and things aligned in the class-
room for me to go to the next level. Coach James and I have been making sure I’m on track and getting stuff done this whole year besides tryna win a state chip.”
Which makes sense, given Giacommazi’s values as a person and that he looks for in players when scouting the next wave. “Part of the evaluation process is – and you do the best you can – ‘What kind of people are they?’ ‘What kind of families have they come from?’ ‘How hard are they working?’ ’Are they self motivated?’ said Giacommazi.
“If you don’t love winning basketball, you’re not passionate, you don’t want to work hard and you don’t have goals to kind of really try to be the best you can be, then we struggle. So we really need to spend time recruiting guys that really want to get better and really want to work and have an opportunity at the highest scholarship level they can get.”
Giacomazzi, who’s also the LPC Athletic Director, has to keep his eyes already out for new players in the pipeline though.
“We’re working on it. In terms of those specific roles, we are talking to numer- ous guys in hopes to try and land some of them, but we have our targets. We’re going after them now, we actually fulfilled some other areas that we think we can cre- ate some more depth to that we’re really excited about, some real good length and size that we feel can help us continue to be one of the better teams in the state.”
Taylour Sparkman is a copy-editor for The Express. Follow him @T_SPARKMAN_330.
