Every so often, you get a team and a player who are a match made in heaven, or in this case, on earth. That is the Pioneers of Gabriel Richard and senior guard Luke Westerdale. That by no means diminishes the family-oriented team that the Pioneers have built over the last four years.
For Westerdale, he is one of two players to reach that 1000-point milestone for the Pioneers. The other is his teammate and back courtmate Nick Sobush, and they did it on the same night. “It was a great night,” Westerdale said, even though the team lost. It was the opening night of his senior year, and they were playing on a big stage at Saginaw Valley State. Westerdale entered the season 11 points away from the milestone and remembered that he got his 1000th point from the free-throw line. “Hitting 1000 points was a goal of mine coming into high school,” according to Westerdale, and with that also comes the territory of the leading scorer in school history, and that is something he is working on as he is currently sitting at 1350 points.
Where is the family-oriented nature of this team that I promised? So far, it’s all been about Luke Westerdale. Well, this is his story, but the majority of this team has been together for four years of high school basketball, and as Westerdale put it, “It’s a brotherhood,” and that’s what a team is. This team is made up of a core of eight seniors who have been together for the longest time playing side by side, and they know where each other is going to be on that court. “We know what we are doing on and off the court. We’re having fun,” Westerdale said when talking about his teammates. “We win together, we lose together, and it’s all special,” Westerdale would go on to say.
When Westerdale and the rest of this team entered high school, if you were talking about sports at Gabriel Richard, you were more than likely talking about their Hockey or Baseball team. But with all the success that the basketball team has had since you can start to see that shift, and with the football team having a deep run to the playoffs, it’s becoming well-rounded.
Since this team has been together, they have had a lot of success, and that’s an understatement. At the time of writing, they are 15-2 on the season, and in the four years, they are 74-12. With all that success that they’ve had, it’s easier to become as close as they are. Even though they are 15-2 on the season, they have a lot of time to go this season with the rest of the regular season, which is winding down, and the state playoffs right around the corner. They are looking at one thing and one thing only: the rest of the year, a return trip to the Breslin Center, where their journey ended just short last year.
Losing in the state finals is tough, and you go through plenty of emotions, but if you look at his socials, you see how close he is with his teammates and his family. His family is a big part of his story, his drive to 1000 points, and his commitment to college. “Since I was a kid, it’s been me and my dad spending countless hours in the gym,” and that is stuff you don’t see that Westerdale does. You will see the highlights and the stats from the good games, but there are also a lot of bad games and sad nights. “My first game, I had zero points,” Westerdale said. After those bad games, it’s his mom that’s there to tell him you have the next game or to tell him that he has it. With the support of his family, he never has time to be that down in the dumps because his family is always there to pick him up. Then, when he has great games and shoots the lights out at the gym, they are there to make sure he doesn’t get too high on himself, and they make sure he stays focused on the task at hand.
After that State Semi-Final game last season, it was tough on Westerdale, knowing how close they were to making it to the Finals and having a team that was that good. But they did come up short, and Westerdale said that their support was massive for him. Watching that last-second shot go in to end their season hurt, but he said his parents approached him from the standpoint that they knew how bad it was for their son, so they couldn’t imagine how he felt.
While the loss in that game hurt, Westerdale used it as fuel. Knowing he was only a junior and that he had a chance to come back and win a title his senior year kept him going. He knew they had just as good a chance as anyone, if not a better shot, to win the whole thing.
All of the history that Westerdale and his team have made in high school is great, and with that comes all of the attention. Two years ago, at the start of Westerdale’s sophomore season, all of this statewide attention wasn’t there yet, and it was something that didn’t come around until later in his junior season. With that statewide attention comes added pressure and a target on your back, but when he entered high school, this was always his goal: coming in and making his team a powerhouse. “I really like where we’re at now, and I feel like it’s awesome being the team that teams fear and they want to come beat,” Westerdale said about being ranked number one in the state in their division. What has helped them the last few seasons has been playing some of the top competition in the state as they are part of the Catholic League. “There are so many good teams in the league,” Westerdale said. He would say, “We’re one of the smaller schools in our league since we got moved up,” being one of the smaller schools in the league and still being able to perform like this has been great for Westerdale and his team.
With his Senior year coming to a close, Westerdale just committed to Wayne State to continue his basketball and schooling career. How did he settle on Wayne State? Westerdale said it was a lot of long nights and hundreds of hours talking to his parents, and what it came down to was that he loves the coaching staff, loves Detroit, and being close to home. Being so close to home, his family and friends can still come out and see him play when he gets that shot. However, that might not be the case as a freshman, as he said he’s already had conversations about possibly being red-shirted. While not being out there would be different for him, he’s excited for the challenge and helping his team out any way he can.
Legacy and family are two big things for Westerdale, and while he will go down as one of if not the best players that has ever stepped foot on the court for Gabriel Richard, he still has one more goal for this year, and that’s to win the school a state title in basketball. But, other than leaving his mark on Gabriel Richard as the all-time leading scorer, he might have the next best thing for him in terms of a replacement for his team next year. While Luke Westerdale will be done and graduated, he has a little brother named Max Westerdale who could come in and keep the Westerdale name at the top of everyone’s mind.
Max Westerdale is a phenom in his own right, but he’s only going to be a freshman next year, and he’s joining a team that your brother just set the school record for points? That would be a lot for a freshman to handle, but Luke said it would be awesome to see his brother play and follow in his footsteps, and he feels his brother could handle that pressure.
While there are still a few weeks left, it has been a great ride for Westerdale and his team. To be the last team standing would be great for the school and the team, as it would be a great way to cap off a great run of Pioneer Basketball.