Winston Sheppard
Photo by Nicholas Koza
In a week dominated by headlines originating from the shoe company-sponsored tournaments in Las Vegas, some news also came out of the Sin City suburbs as Henderson’s Findlay Prep added another promising prospect to its roster.
Findlay Prep, coming off an undefeated season and quickly gaining a reputation as one of the nation’s premier basketball powers, announced Thursday that rising sophomore Winston Sheppard from Houston, Texas, would join the program in the fall.
“We are very excited and fortunate to get a player of Winston’s caliber and age into our program,” Findlay Prep head coach Michael Peck said in a released statement. “We look forward to three years of working with him.”
Sheppard, a 6-foot-6 wing, averaged 3.9 points and 2.9 rebounds per game as a freshman at Hightower High School. Despite the modest numbers, he is widely regarded as one of the top talents in his class and has performed well at various stops on the travel circuit this summer.
Arizona, Arizona State, Indiana, Kansas, Nevada-Las Vegas, Oklahoma, Oklahoma State, Texas A&M, UCLA and Wake Forest have all shown interest in Sheppard, according to the Findlay Prep staff.
The news comes on the heels of other high-profile transfers to the Henderson school in recent months.
In early June, MaxPreps confirmed that highly-touted incoming freshman Nigel Williams-Goss from Tualatin, Ore., would become the Pilots’ first four-year player. Williams-Goss’ entire family re-located from the Portland suburb to Nevada.
Three weeks later the school announced that rising junior guard Jabari Brown of Salesian High School in Richmond, Calif., would also join the fray. Brown averaged close to 20 points per game in leading Salesian to a state title.
International newcomers Marko Petrovic, a 6-4 senior guard from Croatia (and the cousin of late NBA standout Drazen Petrovic), and 6-8 Australian sophomore Dekeba Battee-Aston are also en route, according to assistant coach Todd Simon.
Peck’s squad already returned Canadian stars Tristan Thompson, a 6-9 forward committed to Texas, and 6-3 point guard Cory Joseph, as well as Nigerian native Godwin Okonji.
Simon added that a couple of other additions are expected and could be announced in the coming days.
