Shannon transfers to Terrace

Published 10:15 pm Thursday, September 1, 2011

The basketball season is still a few months away, but that doesn’t mean big news can’t break and overshadow prep football’s opening weekend.

Ryan Shannon, who has starred at Marysville Pilchuck the past three seasons, has enrolled at Mountlake Terrace and will play for the Hawks this season.

It’s the type of thing that can rock a program and make enemies of coaches.

Tomahawks coach Bary Gould and Hawks coach Nalin Sood both said Thursday that isn’t the case.

“This wasn’t a basketball-related decision,” said Sood of Shannon’s transfer. “It has to do with the family and their reasons for moving to Mountlake Terrace. They’re making a decision based on what is best for them.”

One of the first things Sood did after learning about Shannon’s plans was to call Gould and make sure the MP coach knew he wasn’t pulling any strings behind the scenes.

“Nalin called me and told me right away that he had nothing to do with this,” Gould said.

Gould described it as an “amiable departure,” and said he still considers Shannon one of his players.

“Of course I’d rather have him playing for us, but we wish him nothing but the best,” Gould said. “You don’t replace a guy like Ryan. He’s one of the best players in our league.

“We have to move on and play with the 10 guys we have.”

Shannon, who has already received scholarship offers from a number of colleges, including Portland State and Air Force, averaged 13.1 points per game in his junior season and led the Tommies in points, rebounds and blocked shots.

Though it’s early, Gould said he’s excited for the opportunity some of his young kids have now. Junior Jalen Apel-Henderson and senior Phillip DeSanctis, who both stand 6-foot-4, will likely get the lion’s share of Shannon’s minutes.

As for Sood, he said he’s not worrying about how Shannon will fit into his team’s plans this winter. “Right now I care about how Ryan gets acclimated to being a student here at Mountlake Terrace,” Sood said. “We’ll worry about his jump shot and defense in November.”