Shadle Park’s Boese fulfills dream by signing with WSU

PULLMAN – Brett Boese put his signature on his National Letter of Intent on Wednesday, following in the footsteps of his uncle, Jim Meredith, who was on hand to watch the ceremony at Shadle Park High. Boese joined two other soon-to-be Washington State Cougars by signing on the first day of the fall period for basketball. “We’re extremely excited about these three guys,” WSU coach Ken Bone said later in the day. WSU’s class includes highly recruited 6-foot-5 shooting guard Demarquise Johnson, who picked the Cougars over Washington and Gonzaga, among others, and 6-6, 210-pound forward Richard Longrus, from Bishop O’Dowd High in Oakland. Johnson’s teammate at Phoenix’s Westwind Prep, 6-10, 245-pound center Richard Peters, also committed to WSU earlier this year and is expected to sign with the Cougars in the next couple days. “I don’t think we’re finished,” said Bone, who will say goodbye to four seniors at the end of the season. “You never know until the name is signed on the paper and sent in.” “With this class we kind of cover the important roles you need to have covered on a successful basketball team,” said Boese, a 6-7 sharp-shooting forward. “We have a big-time scorer (in Johnson and) I can score, as well and rebound and play defense. “We have that long, defensive stopper, rebounding power forward (in Longrus). And then we have (in Peters) our big center we need, our big body in the middle to defend the paint.” Boese missed all but six games last season with a broken foot, averaging 17 points in those games. Signing with WSU was a culmination of a lifelong dream, he said, expressing gratitude his uncle, Meredith, who was the head coach at Shadle Park for years and played for the Cougars in the late 1960s, was able to witness it. “The signature means a lot more than just the name,” Boese said. “You put in so much time, so much effort and there are so many things to overcome to get to that piece of paper. But I made it. “I still feel like there is a lot that people haven’t seen yet and there’s a lot to prove.” Johnson is the star of the class, rated as the West Coast’s top shooting guard by recruiting website Scout.com. He averaged 20.8 points, 4.5 rebounds, 2.6 assists and 2.1 steals last year at Westwind. “From what we’ve seen as a staff he’s as good a shooter as there is out there,” Bone said. “He can really shoot. The nice thing about him he’s a really good athlete.” Longrus has a reputation as a defender and rebounder but Bone said there’s more to his game than that. “That’s probably where he gets his identity at this point,” Bone said, adding that he played last season with Brandon Ashley, an Arizona commit who is the nation’s top-ranked power forward. “He has taken on that unselfish role of being a lock-down defender and very good rebounder.” Idaho signs Egbert Idaho signed Lake Roosevelt HS senior Ty Egbert of Coulee Dam, Wash., to a letter of intent. Egbert, a 6-foot-8, 200-pound forward, averaged 17.1 points and 11 rebounds as a junior in leading the Raiders to a 23-5 record and fourth place in the State 2B tournament. “He’s a very active player,” Lake Roosevelt coach Brad Wilson said. “he’s physically aggressive, and he jumps and runs well for a big guy.” “His upside is enormous and he’s a young man who wants to be good,” Idaho coach Don Verlin said.