PLEASANT HILL – It’s rare to see a sophomore leading an elite team in any division, or any sport. Yet that’s exactly what the Pleasant Hill boys basketball team has in guard Gavin Inglish. Inglish, who was an all-league player as a freshman, is averaging 21.7 points, 6.4 rebounds, 3 assists, and 2.1 steals a game en route to helping the Billies to a 12-3 record so far this season.
“He’s been great on the court and off the court. He’s a good leader, he verbalizes things off the court, and I try to give him that opportunity to talk to our team and to talk about things we need to improve on or things that we’re doing good,” said Darwin Terry, Pleasant Hill head coach. “He’s a really good leader off the court, and on the court. He knows that, and he’s our go to guy.”
The leadership at that age isn’t lost on his teammates. It’s why they voted him one of the team captains, an honor he doesn’t take lightly.
“It’s definitely a responsibility. I like being a captain, having that kind of leadership role on the team,” Inglish said. “I feel like I do a good job of bringing the guys up and getting them focused before games and locking in, and it’s definitely a role that I like to seek.”
Inglish seeks a couple other things on the court as well: buckets, and wins. He’s gotten plenty of both so far this season. Earlier this season Inglish had an incredible two-game stretch where he scored 32 points on Friday night, then came back on Saturday and scored 27 points to go along with 11 rebounds, 6 assists and 4 steals. The efficieny is impressive as well, Inglish is shooting 57% from the field and 40% from three.
“I feel good. I feel like it’s mostly confidence with me. I think as long as I can keep my confidence up, and produce points, rebounds, steals, and stuff like that, I think it helps the team out a lot to get more wins,” Inglish said.
While scoring points is perhaps what he’s best at on the court, he understands that it’s those little things that help the team win that are the most important.
“I think just always always trying to get in and get a rebound, always trying to get in to steal the ball and take no plays off,” he said. “Then that just helps the team out more.”
As Inglish’s head coach, Terry sees it every game, but he also knows there’s room for Inglish to grow.
“He draws a lot of attention from defenses, so I’d say maybe have him help to get the other players on our team involved,” Terry said. “As far as when he drives to the basket, or draws defenses, draws the attention and then to get the pass to our other players in a position to help them score.”
That’s not to say he doesn’t already do that often; Pleasant Hill wouldn’t be where they are if he didn’t. Either way, Inglish is leading one of the top teams in the state in Class 3A, and the fact that he’s only a sophomore can only mean there’s good things to come.
