BELLINGHAM, Wash – Western Washington University head basketball coach Tony Dominguez has announced the final piece of the 2018-19 recruiting class, adding athletic forward Luke Lovelady to the Vikings roster.
Lovelady is a 6-8, 210-pound forward that was a three-time league MVP and three-time All-State selection out of Life Christian Academy in Tacoma. He will be a sophomore when he joins the Vikings after playing his freshman season at Point Loma Nazarene in San Diego.
“We are thrilled to add Luke to our WWU family,” said Dominguez, who enters his seventh season as WWU’s head coach with a 133-51 record (24th season overall at WWU). “Luke is a tremendous young man with great character and basketball skills. His combination of athleticism and basketball IQ makes him a major threat on the court. We are excited to add such a talented young player to our team and will look forward to his contributions.”
Lovelady was a four-year letterwinner at Life Christian where he played for his father, Mark Lovelady. He recorded 1,629 points and 1086 rebounds in his career, helping lead the Eagles to a 79-6 record during his prep career with three state tournament appearances.
During his senior season in 2016-17, Lovelady was named the 2B State Player of the Year after averaging 21.3 points, 13.6 rebounds, 6.1 assists and 4.9 blocks per game. He was named to the Tacoma News Tribune All-Area team three times, including a first-team selection during his senior season, and was a McDonalds All-American nominee.
As a junior he averaged 21.1 points, 14.9 rebounds, 3.4 assists, 3.7 steals and 2.1 blocks and as a sophomore he totaled 15.1 points, 10.4 rebounds, 3.4 assists and 3.4 steals per game.
In his one season at Point Loma in 2017-18, Lovelady appeared in 15 games for the Sea Lions (21-10 overall, 15-5 PacWest). He averaged 2.3 points and 2.9 rebounds per game before enduring a season-ending foot injury with two months remaining in the season.
Lovelady is the sixth player in Dominguez’s recruiting class that will debut for the Vikings in the 2018-19 season. He joins forward Cameron Retherford (Portland Community College), shooting guard Tucker Eenigenburg (Bakersfield College), guard/forward Jalen Green (Lindbergh High School), guard D’Angelo Minnis (Kentwood High School) and forward KJ Bosco (Portland Community College).
The Vikings are scheduled to open the 2018-19 season Nov. 9-10 traveling to play a pair of games in the CCAA/GNAC Challenge against Cal State Dominguez Hills and tournament host UC San Diego.
