2025-26 Winter Sports Preview: ‘Big, strong kid’ senior Jaden Ghoreishi hopes to lead Mt. Spokane boys basketball into rarefied air

The Mt. Spokane boys basketball team has reached the State 3A semifinals each of the past four seasons, with two third-place finishes and two fifth-place trophies to show for it. If they are going to reach those lofty heights again this year, senior Jaden Ghoreishi will have a lot to say about it.

Ghoreishi, the 6-foot-9 returning Greater Spokane League MVP, won’t have to worry about where he’s going to play next year as he navigates the GSL season then district and state playoffs – he has recently committed to Colorado State. But after the Wildcats have come so close the last few years, he knows where the bar is set.

Even if it’s arguably in the toughest bracket in the state – which features a consensus five-star recruit and the top-ranked player nationally in the Class of 2026.

“I think we have a legit chance to actually win it this year,” he said. “Rainier Beach will be tough, for sure, because Tyran Stokes just went there. But I think we can get there and give them good run for their money.

“When the No. 1 player in the country transfers to our division … you just want to play them and show the world what you can do.”

“What a fun opportunity,” Mt. Spokane coach David Wagenblast said. “We’ve got to have some good luck when we get there … but that’s what we’re going to end up with at the end of the day, is us against them. What a great opportunity for our kids. And you know, there’s nobody you’d rather have on your team than Jaden.”

To get ready for the rigors of the season, Ghoreishi has put on 10-15 pounds of lean muscle between his junior and senior seasons.

“Honestly, I’ve been eating a lot, and then protein shakes every day. That’s helped me,” he said. “Just that, lifting and basketball every day.”

“He’s put a lot of time and effort into the weight room, and you can see it,” Wagenblast said. “He’s put even more time into his game, and he’s really transformed his game to just an unbelievable all-around player.”

The extra muscle will help once he runs into some of the bigger bodies he’ll face in a rigorous nonleague schedule, plus the ones he’ll see in Tacoma.

“You just gotta prepare yourself, especially when you go to the west side,” Ghoreishi said. “It’s always really physical, and the way the refs call things. You got to be ready to be physical.”

“He’s bigger, he’s stronger and he’s just really taken to heart how much you have to put into working on your body,” Wagenblast said. “He’s turned into just a real, absolute force who cannot necessarily just be pushed around. Last year, he was a tall, skinny kid who a lot of football guys, you know, took it as a mission to push him around. And this year, he’s the big, strong kid.”

The ball goes through his hands on every offensive possession regardless of which position he’s playing at the time. He’ll go around or through posts guarding him, or post up smaller players, or knock down a 3 to loosen up the defense – something he’s a fan of early in halves.

“He’s like 6-10, moves just like he’s 5-10 and he jumps out of the gym,” Wagenblast said. “And yet, he is a great shooter and he’s a great ball handler. So he’s a kid who has given himself a chance to really have a great year, and to position himself as being a guy who’s kind of an all-timer.”

Ghoreishi’s play automatically elevates him to leadership status, but he realizes as a senior the job is a little more official.

“Last year when I was junior, I was one of the players, but wasn’t the guy,” Ghoreishi said. “This year, that’s my role, and I feel this drive to be way more vocal on defense and just telling guys where to go. Because ultimately, that’s just gonna help everybody out.”

“Jaden is really coming into his own. You know, seniors take great pride in being leaders, and he’s starting to really show what that looks like,” Wagenblast said. “He’s much more confident, and not only in his game, but also how he acts and how he speaks with everybody. He’s really taken a step in his own growth in maturity, and a lot of that comes from probably the recruiting process where he was forced to talk to people a lot, and he’s much more confident in his conversations.”

That recruiting process really amped up over the summer when he transferred from a Seattle circuit team to Select Basketball in Boise where he played on their Puma Pro 16 circuit team.

“The exposure on that circuit,” he trailed off. “First game, there’s like 50 coaches. It was eye-opening.”

He processed offers from all over the country before realizing Colorado State was where he wanted to be.

“It was awesome when I went down there,” he said. “Their coaches have been texting me the longest and just checking on me every day, checking on my family. That stuff means a lot. And then when I went down there, the campus was so nice. It’s definitely a college town.”

“Once he got started in July, it happened really fast, where multiple Division I coaches were reaching out to me, and every day,” Wagenblast said. “The big thing was him just continuing to stay grounded in who he was and what he knew he was looking for in a program. And I think he had some people that had given him really good advice, and I thought it was a really mature decision with Colorado State.”

But first, there is the matter of his senior year and trying to get the Wildcats over the hump. The league is no picnic either, with reigning State 4A champion Gonzaga Prep and school district rival Mead among others trying to keep them out of the top spot in the GSL.

“We’re very lengthy this year. We have 6-5, 6-5, 6-5, then me at 6-9 in the starting lineup, and then we have (point guard) Rock (Franklin),” Ghoreishi said. “We’re just super lengthy. That’s gonna help on defense a lot. It’s gonna be tough for teams to score on us. And then offense, we’re huge, so it’s gonna be hard for teams just match up against us.”

“I know that it’s really easy to look down the road and go, ‘What is this kid going to be? And could he play in the NBA?’” Wagenblast said. “Well, yeah. He’s got tools that most people don’t, and so he has a great chance. But what’s in front of him right now is what I think could be a really fun senior year.”