Basketball: James McLaughlin to sign with Sonoma State

It's a moment James McLaughlin will probably never forget.

He was five games into a stellar senior football season, already on his way to a school-record caliber season with 26 catches, nearly 400 yards receiving and five games remaining on the schedule.

Next-level schools like UNLV and Montana State were starting to inquire about his availability for the next year and, the Tiger football team was off to an impressive 4-1 start with its lone blemish coming against Southern 4A powerhouse Las Vegas.

He was standing on the sidelines getting ready for kickoff against the Damonte Ranch Mustangs when a teammate turned to him with a serious look on his face.

"He looked at me and said he had a really bad feeling," McLaughlin said. "He was like 'just don't get hurt.' I just remember thinking, 'What's up with that?' It kind of spooked me."

Less than an hour later " and only yards away " McLaughlin took a receiver screen pass down the left sideline on third-and-12. He made up 11 yards of the deficit before a host of Mustang defenders converged on him.

Somewhere in the pile up, either a facemask or a helmet made sharp contact with his lower leg.

He didn't get up.

"Right away, I knew it was broken," McLaughlin said. "I kind of scooted off to the sideline, but I could feel it.

"I kept thinking about everyone who had told me coming into the year not to get hurt. It was crazy."

While the injury brought an abrupt end to his promising football season, it also brought into question a larger issue " his senior basketball season.

At 6-4, 192 pounds, McLaughlin was a natural fit on the football field, but his high school career up to this year had been spent establishing himself on the basketball court.

After first-team All-Sierra League honors the prior year and a couple of impressive showings at recruiting camps over the summer, he was starting to receive overtures from a number of Division I basketball programs.

"They told me when I first broke my leg that I'd be out 6 to 8 weeks," McLaughlin said. "I did a quick count and that meant I would be back in time for the start of basketball.

"I wasn't expecting it to change anything at first."

But the start of basketball rolled around, and he knew the wait was going to be longer.

"My leg just wasn't there," McLaughlin said. "When I first started trying to jog, it was horrible. I don't even know what I looked like, but it wasn't good. There was one leg and then there was nothing."

Slowly, his senior season started to evaporate.

"There were times there where I'd get out and try to run and the thought seriousl crossed me mind that sports might just be over for me," McLaughlin said.

The Tiger basketball team, of which he was supposed to be the centerpiece, struggled out of the gates to a 3-11 start.

"It was heartbreaking," he said. "I'd played on this team for two years and watching them struggle while I couldn't do a thing to help. I couldn't stand it. I wanted to play so bad, but I couldn't."

At the beginning of January, against his doctor's wishes, he returned to the lineup.

"I just made up my mind that I wasn't going to let any more of my senior year fade away," McLaughlin said. "I was going to play out the season with that pain."

And that's exactly what he did.

He took over the team lead in scoring within six weeks and finished the year averaging 12.9 points per game with a team-leading 18 3-pointers.

He raked in first team all-region and all-league honors To the untrained eye " and even to some keenly-trained eyes " he appeared to be back to full strength.

"I was maybe 75 percent," McLaughlin said. "It was awful. I felt so much slower. I couldn't sprint. I wanted to be able to run without any pain, but it wasn't there. I was always lightheaded during practice and games because I was taking Ibuprofen. It was good to be back, but I didn't feel great."

By the end of the season, much of the recruiting interest had disappeared.

In fact, pretty much all of the basketball interest was gone.

After the football season, just to test the water, McLaughlin sat down with football assistant coach Ernie Monfiletto to patch together a highlight film from the five games he did play in.

"Coach Monfiletto was talking to some coaches down at UNLV and we got some letters from a couple smaller schools."

Redlands College and Willamette were among the schools that contact McLaughlin, but nothing concrete appeared.

"If I would've had an offer for football, I probably would've taken it " just to have my college years settled."

But no such offers came.

Similarly, he fell off the map with the basketball programs at Montana, Sacramento State and Humboldt State.

But there was one that stuck around.

Sonoma State associate head basketball coach Rich Shayewitz first gave McLaughlin a call a month after the injury.

"He just said he heard I'd gotten hurt, but he'd watched me the past two summers," McLaughlin said.

Sonoma State kept in contact in the following months and over time, an offer materialzed.

"They said they needed a freshman guard to come in and play," McLaughlin said. "The more I looked into it, the more I liked the school.

"They were pretty much the only school that was offering. There really wasn't much else going on at all.

"I visited the campus and got to work out with the team," he said. "It seemed like it was a really good fit. If I work as hard as I can and play really well, the opportunity is there to play as a freshman."

McLaughlin will sign with Sonoma State next Wednesday to make it official.

Once there, he'll find himself in familiar company.

Sonoma State assistant coach Vince Inglima played his high school ball at Carson and junior guard Mike Nelson played for Reno.

Sonoma is also recruiting current Reno standout Zach Sanford.

"They told me straight out that they like Northern Nevada guys," McLaughlin said. "They say Northern Nevada players fit well into their system."

It's almost 10 weeks out of basketball season and McLaughlin said he's had plenty of ups and downs in his recovery process.

"I took five weeks off when the season ended and then I started playing in a men's league at Tahoe once a week," McLaughlin said. "I still have bad days, but I've had moments where I felt full strength.

"Probably, if I'd sat out the whole season, I'd be full strength right now."

Still, he's been taking as many opportunities as he can, and turning down the ones he can't make.

He was supposed to travel with Manogue's offseason club to Las Vegas this weekend, but after some pain in his leg, had to back out.

"I was telling coach (Bill) Ballinger about my leg hurting and he was like 'what are you talking about?' He thought when we played them this season that I'd been at full strength. He was shocked, he had no idea.

"Once I get fully healed, it'll feel so much different."