UNLV commit Keshon Gilbert leaving Las Vegas for senior season
Locals will have to wait to watch Keshon Gilbert play basketball again.
At least for another year, anyway.
Gilbert, a senior committed verbally to UNLV, announced earlier this week that he’s moving from Las Vegas and Durango to St. Louis, where he’ll attend national power Vashon High School. The 6-foot-3-inch point guard said his father lives in St. Louis, and that he wants to spend time with him before returning next year to play for the Rebels, for whom his brother, Kendrick, is a freshman walk-on.
Vashon has won 16 state championships and plays a schedule comprised of national competition.
“I’m going to be on a bigger stage. I’m going to get a lot better,” said Gilbert, who decided in the last month to leave Las Vegas and plans on moving in July.
Gilbert moved from St. Louis to Las Vegas as a freshman and emerged during his sophomore season as a standout for the Trailblazers, averaging 15.3 points on 54.5 percent shooting along with 4.3 rebounds and 2.8 assists. He earned scholarship offers from Long Beach State, Fresno State and UNR before pledging to the Rebels in September.
He averaged 12.7 points during his junior year in the 21 games for which the Review-Journal had statistics. The Trailblazers reached the Class 4A state tournament in February for the first time since 2003.
Gilbert is a three-star prospect, ranked No. 166 in the senior class and the No. 29 point guard, per 247 Sports. He said he’s continuing to develop a rapport with Rebels coaches, who are also recruiting consensus four-star senior point guard Zaon Collins of Bishop Gorman.
“We’re cool. Just building a relationship day by day,” Gilbert said.
Other Division I programs are respecting Gilbert’s commitment and not actively recruiting him, he said.
Contact reporter Sam Gordon at sgordon@reviewjournal.com. Follow @BySamGordon on Twitter.