College Commitment: Silas Bennion (2020 Churchill HS)
Silas Bennion could have waited. The returning Midwestern League Player of the Year would have put together another great season and more college offers and options would have come his way. But the fearless 5-foot-11, 165-pound point guard knew he had already found what he was looking for at the next level and on Monday night, he and his parents gave Lewis-Clark State head coach Austin Johnson a call to commit to becoming a Pioneer.
“Basically from the start since I was very little my goal was to play college basketball,” Bennion said. “Probably my number one thing was to be at a place where the coaches love me and I’m wanted and needed there, and the players want me there. I think that both of those things are checked off – I was wanted and loved.”
Bennion also had offers from Menlo College and Lane CC and others were looking at evaluating him his senior season. But not long after making an official visit to Lewis-Clark State a couple of weekends ago, Bennion got the sense there was no reason to delay a decision any longer.
“I love the coaches, the facilities are a lot nicer than I thought and the gym is really big,” Bennion said. “The players – I really like them and got to hang out with them and they’re a great group of guys. Oreon (Courtney) and Brock (Henry) were there and it was fun to get to know them better.”
Courtney (West Linn) and Henry (Southridge) are former Oregon standouts that along with Bennion, continue a pipeline from Oregon to the Pioneers program. The senior point guard now is able to turn his attention on the 2019-20 season, one where the Lancers have high expectations.
“Now that I’ve got the recruiting stuff out of the way, I just want to focus on the team,” Bennion siad. “I don’t really have any individual accolaades that I want, I just want to do the best for team. The past two seasons we’ve been close so we’re trying to finish it off with a bang and a state championship.”
Bennion currently ranks #20 in the updated PrepHoops Oregon Class of 2020 rankings.