Prospect Spotlight: Lawson Vella (2022 Cleveland)

<p>It might have been Cleveland’s first-ever Les Schwab Invitational appearance, but honestly you couldn’t have guessed. The Warriors went 3-1 in the event and finished off things with wins over traditional powers Lake Oswego and Jesuit. Senior [player_tooltip player_id="1229393" first="Lawson" last="Vella"] was a big piece of the puzzle. The tough 6-foot-1, 170-pound combo guard had some breakout performances and was grateful that he and his team had the opportunity to play on Oregon high school basketball’s biggest stage during the holidays.</p> <p>"I was buddies with the seniors before me and they paved the way for us to be here," Vella said. "We have a great coach and he did everything to get us ready for this tournament and ready for league. So it feels good to lead this team and be one of the contributors."</p> <p>Individually, Lawson got warmed up in the first couple of games and then exploded for a career-high 30 points in the win over Lake Oswego. He finished the LSI averaging 14.8 points, shooting .568 from the field, .476 from three while dishing out 2.3 assists per game.</p> <p>"I’ve been shooting well from three and I’ve just been more aggressive," Vella said. "Last year I had a pretty mediocre season scoring-wise, but now that I’m a senior and I’m a primary ball-handler, I’ve been getting looks and I’ve been making them."</p> <p>Lawson showed the ability to score at all three levels during the tournament and physically has the strength to finish plays around the hoop. He was able to operate both on and off the ball alongside Cleveland’s other point guards in [player_tooltip player_id="861093" first="Jamel" last="Pichon"] and [player_tooltip player_id="865367" first="Sean" last="Chris Tresvant"], and took good care of the basketball when given the opportunity. The high-academic senior with a 3.7 GPA is looking to play in college and notes that schools such as Chico State, Lewis &amp; Clark, Pacific, and Multnomah have shown interest. He remains wide open at this point.</p> <p>"I’m hoping some coaches saw how I played and how I contribute to the team this season and hopefully I’ll pick up more interest," Vella said. "Chico State’s a D-II and I’m trying to get into the best that I can. So any D-II, D-III offers, I’m going to consider."</p> <p>From here, Cleveland heads into PIL play with great momentum but knows there are still some things they can fine tune for further sucess. "We could have played better (against Jesuit) so need to stay in the mindset of we’re going to close out these games," Vella said. "In our last two games we were up for a considerable amount - 20-plus points - and we let the other team come back. We just need to execute better and play better team defense.</p> <p>Vella currently ranks as the #83 ranked player in the PrepHoops Oregon Class of 2022 rankings.</p>