The Trinity Western Spartans have added a hometown product with a winning pedigree to their men’s basketball program.
Daniel Stead is a six-foot-seven wing who graduates from Walnut Grove Secondary this month.
He is coming off a Grade 12 season in which he helped the Gators to a third-place finish at the B.C. 4A senior boys provincial championships. He averaged 10.3 points and seven rebounds per game.
“Daniel comes from a terrific program in Walnut Grove and coach (George) Bergan has done a great job with his development,” said Aaron Muhic, the Spartans coach.
“Daniel is a terrific student and will develop into being a really good CIS player. I am very excited to work with him.”
Stead has played with the provincial team program in past years, including helping win gold at the U16 Western Canadian championships.
“I look forward to being a part of a great community at Trinity Western, while continuing my studies in small classes with great professors,” said Stead, who plans to study biology at TWU.
“I am also excited to grow as a person and as a basketball player at the next level.”
Stead is one of two Langley products and six new recruits inked by Muhic this spring.
Point guard Josiah Meppelink returns to Langley after spending the past six years at Lynden Christian School.
The six-foot-three point guard had eight points, 10 assists and six rebounds per game for Lynden Christian.
The team went 22-3 this past season and Meppelink was named a all-Northwest Conference second team all-star.
“Josiah is an excellent fit for our basketball program,” Muhic said.
“With his on-court leadership and work ethic, he has the tools to be an excellent basketball player at the CIS level. I am excited to see what Josiah brings to the Spartans.”
“Coach Muhic and the rest of the staff made TWU feel like home,” said Meppelink, who plans to pursue a major in business with a minor in psychology.
“Being able to come back home and play at the school I grew up watching is a blessing. Seeing such a Christ-centered program with such great guys involved in every aspect made the decision fairly straight forward.
“My faith is a big deal to me and I owe all I have in this world to my Lord and Savior. Coach Muhic has already challenged me to grow in my relationship with Christ and I can't wait for what is in store these next few years.”
The Spartans have also added guards Nigel Boyd (Steveston-London), Justin Robinson (Maple Ridge Christian), and Ben Reddy (Lambrick Park) as well as guard/forward Aaron Paetkau (Ballenas) for next year’s squad.
Boyd finished with 17 points and six rebounds per game while Robinson had 29.6 points per game, 6.6 rebounds, 4.5 assists and 4.2 steals.
Paetkau averaged 10 points and 10 rebounds per game.
Reddy missed much of last season with injury, but in the three games he did play, he averaged 20 points, seven rebounds and five assists per contest.