Seahawks loose in The Kennel: Peninsula hoops call Gonzaga home for team camp

The Peninsula High School basketball team had a fun-filled four day experience at the Gonzaga University basketball team camp in Spokane July 13 to 16.

“It was a blast,” said Peninsula boys basketball coach Matt Robles. “Team camps are the best thing out there for bonding and having the team come together. They hung out together, stayed in the dorms, ate every meal together.”

The team traveled to Spokane early Thursday morning and returned Sunday evening. During the four-day camp, the team got to play in several mini-games and competitions and full-squad live scrimmages. That even included two games on the main floor of the McCarthey Athletic Center, Gonzaga’s 6,000-seat arena.

While still relatively small compared to arenas from major universities, playing in an arena that regularly hosts nationally televised games was a treat for the players.

“Our first game there was at 8 a.m.; the kids were wide-eyed and bushy tailed,” Robles said. “It was a blast. I kept asking them during the game, ‘How fun is this?’ They play nationally televised games there. They win WCC titles on that court. So their energy just went up. It was a blast.”

Gonzaga played in the NCAA National Championship game in 2017, falling to the University of North Carolina. It was Gonzaga’s first Final Four and cemented the program’s reputation as a national contender.

“It’s just a different level of basketball there,” Robles said. “They do a tremendous job. They’re a national-level program. Coach (Mark) Few and his staff, just the way they run the camp, you can see why they’re so successful. It was well ran and they were well prepared for everything. That speaks volumes about Few and his staff.”

Peninsula was missing several of its starters during the camp and struggled in the win-loss category. But it was an opportunity for younger players to get some playing time against some high-level competition.

“They played their butts off,” Robles said. “Two of our starters who were there, Dustin Baker and Jared Brinkman, took on more of a scoring role. They’re two guys we can count on. And then some other guys, like Roman Bockhorn, Kaleb Lichau and Dane Jackson really stepped up. So that was a lot of fun. To see those three really grow up and play well and take on some scoring load, that was a blast.”

High school teams at the Gonzaga team camp have the opportunity to watch current GU players and some local alumni play in scrimmages each night. Robles may have aged himself a bit by taking his team one night.

“One of the nights, Dan Dickau was playing a bit,” Robles said. “That was for me to see him personally. I told the guys, ‘That’s Dan Dickau.’ They all just kind of shrugged their shoulders. They had no idea who he was.”

Dickau was named a first-team All-American as a senior for Gonzaga in 2002. He was selected in the first round of the 2002 NBA Draft and was traded eight times in his six-year NBA career. He currently works as a broadcaster.

The camp marks the conclusion of Peninsula’s summer activities.

“That was a great way to end summer,” Robles said. “The road trip, the hot dorms, playing in their gym, we wouldn’t trade it for anything.”

This story was originally published July 26, 2017 at 11:53 AM with the headline "Seahawks loose in The Kennel: Peninsula hoops call Gonzaga home for team camp."