On March 22, 13,000 fans packed the Spokane Arena, the atmosphere of March Madness unlike any other, especially for PHS graduate and member of the Division 1 St. Mary’s Basketball Team, Luke Barrett who suited up to participate in the NCAA Tournament for the second time in his collegiate basketball career.
Four years ago, Piedmont alum Luke Barrett helped lead the Highlanders to a North Coast Section Championship (NCS). This year, he played in March Madness and won a West Coast Conference Championship (WCC) with the St. Mary’s College Gaels.
At Piedmont, Barrett was a starter and leading member of the Highlanders.
“He was an awesome teammate, often the first one there, last one to leave, and set an example for all his teammates in terms of how hard he worked in practice,” said varsity basketball head coach Ben Spencer.
During his senior season, Barrett was named by the Piedmont Exedra as the 2020 Piedmont Athlete of the Year.
“As a player, [he was] extremely skilled. He could shoot, he could run, he could jump, he could pass. Just had all the skills in the world,” Spencer said.
During his senior season, Barrett helped lead the Highlanders to an NCS Division IV championship, the first in school history.
“Watching Luke go from playing for the Highlanders in the NCS tournament to now playing for a Division 1 school in March Madness has been really cool to see,” said PHS graduate and junior at St. Mary’s Kian Kazemi.
Over the past two years, Barrett managed to make his way into the St. Mary’s College rotation. This year he stepped into a larger role, getting more playing time and scoring more.
“It’s been challenging but super rewarding, I had to work hard to even get on the court. Being able to play a lot in the last couple of years, in big moments, has been super rewarding and I don’t think I could have gotten a better experience anywhere else,”Barrett said.
In his first year, Barrett received a single minute of playing time the whole year.
“I really didn’t feel like I was ready to play when I came in, and you kind of just have to approach the offseason, approach every day with an edge and with a lot of hunger,”Barrett said.
Barrett continued to earn more and more playing time, with each of his statistical metrics improving. This year, Barrett was St. Mary’s sixth man, averaging 17 minutes a game and making his way into the starting five against Pepperdine this season.
“At the start of the year, I just wasn’t feeling like I was playing the way I wanted to, but ended up kind of breaking out in the middle of the year and having some really good games, scoring more than I ever thought I would,” Barrett said.
During March Madness, the 5th seeded Gaels faced the 12th seeded Grand Canyon University. Barrett scored 11 points and grabbed six rebounds in the team’s loss to GCU.
“You try to approach it like any other game, but it definitely hits you when you get out there, you just think about how many years you’ve been watching the tournament and you feel like everybody you know is probably tuning into that game,” Barrett said.
Although the Gaels were unable to go on a run in the NCAA tournament, the program did leave the season with a WCC Championship win.
“Just having a taste of that drives you to want to get back there and make a run at it so that’s gonna be everyone’s focus going into next year,” Barrett said.
