By Zack Alvidrez, Head Coach

The 2022–2023 season was filled with growth and maturity for the Rowland Hall boys basketball program. For the first time in five years, the varsity team was comprised primarily of underclass athletes—six sophomores and two juniors—with only two seniors with previous varsity-level basketball experience rounding out the lineup. Given that, the team was thrown into the proverbial fire, and it was there that our identity was forged.

Led by captains Kai Dowdle and Yeshi Tsering, we finished the season with an 11-12 record, taking second place in Region 17 with an 8-2 record, and lost to a tough Duchesne team on the road in the Utah High School Activities Association (UHSAA) 2A State Tournament. We had three players represented on the All-Region Team: Kai Dowdle, Jack Ross, and Luc Dowdle. Senior Kai Dowdle also was named to the Deseret News 2023 All-State Third Team, and was selected to play in two Senior All-Star games.

The season was filled with highlights, whether it was senior Kai Dowdle’s 31-point explosion on the road at Duchesne, senior Jack Ross with 22 points and six three-pointers in the Den during senior night, sophomore Luc Dowdle with 22 points and six three-pointers on the road at UMA Hill Field, or sophomore Miles Krakovitz hitting the game-winning three-pointer at the buzzer at home against APA Draper.

The coaching staff was proud to see the improvement made throughout the season and appreciated all the dedication and hard work from our student-athletes: seniors Kai Dowdle, Jaiden Handlon, Jack Ross, and Alex Yang; juniors Max Rohovit and Yeshi Tsering; sophomores Noah Bikhazi, Wil Chin, Luc Dowdle, Grant Downes, Angus Hickman, Miles Krakovitz, Ian Mellor, and Ivan Wang; and ninth graders Raffay Ahmed, Abdallah Butt, Joe Cashiola, Bryce Decker, Imran Ibrahima, Ocky Moyle, Duke O’Neil, Sawyer Orgain, and Luca Svendsen.

We were proud that two of our varsity athletes, Kai Dowdle and Jaiden Handlon, earned Academic All-Region recognition, and that Jaiden Handlon was also named to the prestigious UHSAA 2A Academic All-State team.

Several of our varsity athletes will be recognized with team awards at an end-of-season celebration to be held soon; those award recipients’ names are withheld until after that gathering has occurred.

I appreciate all the hard work and planning by our administration, faculty, staff, and parents, which often goes unseen. Assistant Coaches Paulino Beach and Terrence Drisdom and I are truly thankful for the 23 student-athletes who committed to working hard this season, and we look forward to good things in the future.

back to the finish line

Athletics