Tuesday, Sept. 30, 2008 | 12:01 p.m.
Findlay College Prep’s basketball team lost an electric player over the weekend when Clarence Trent left the Henderson program for The Patterson School in Lenoir, N.C.
A 6-foot-8, 230-pound forward whose dunks have been featured on YouTube, Trent averaged 12 points and 8 rebounds last season as a junior for the 32-1 Pilots.
Trent, a native of Gig Harbor, Wash., gave a verbal commitment to Washington Huskies coach Lorenzo Romar two weeks ago.
“I have no hard feelings,” said Findlay coach Mike Peck. “I just wish the best for him. Hopefully, he can finish the last mile of the marathon he’s on, in terms of his plan to get into college.
“I think he can. He has to keep running, don’t start walking now. There’s the finish line, then UW for four years.”
Peck said he has some options for filling Trent’s spot on the roster, and he might be leaning toward bringing in an international big man in the next week.
“I think we’ll go with size,” he said. “The two returnees (Carlos Lopez and Godwin Okonji) will have to step up. It might not be an ideal situation, what we planned for or expected.
“Nevertheless, there’s an opportunity. Minutes will be available. We have a key part of the system in place. At times we might have a smaller lineup out there. We have speed and we have traditional size. We’ll have different looks. That’s a nice luxury.”
At Patterson, Trent will play next to 6-8, 240-pound Rashanti Harris, considered one of the top five centers in the Class of 2009 by recruiting services Rivals.com and Scout.com.
After the 2007-08 season, Cliff Findlay, the Las Vegas-area automobile magnate who started the Pilots' program, was touched when he opened a letter sent to him by Trent's guardians in Washington. In it, they thanked Findlay for starting the team and helping to steer Trent's life around.
In a statement, Findlay assistant coach Todd Simon said it was an amicable split.
"He's still a friend of our program and Washington is getting a really nice kid," Simon said. "I believe he'll do well at Patterson and Coach (Chris) Chaney does a good job of putting kids in position to reach their goals. We look forward to seeing him at the University of Washington.''
Findlay starts its third season in a few weeks and still is loaded with talent, from guards Avery Bradley (committed to Texas), D.J. Richardson (Illinois), Issiah Grayson and Willie Hankins, to forwards Okonji and Victor Rudd, and center Lopez (UNLV).
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