A pleasant surprise
St. Mary’s College graduate earns honors in Spain
Nick LaGuerre, a St. Mary’s College of Maryland graduate and former guard on the Seahawks men’s basketball team, was recently named as a third team selection in the Liga EBA league in Spain after his first year with his team, Soliss Alcazar.
The announcement came as a shock to him, especially because it was revealed to him on Twitter.
“I wasn’t sure if it was real or not,” LaGuerre said. “No one had told me that I was selected. I found out through the St. Mary’s men’s basketball Twitter. After I saw the tweet, I texted my agent and asked if it was real and he told me it was, so I was pretty thrilled.”
Laguerre said the town of Alcazar, located east of Seville, has been supportive of the team, which won a league championship that brought everyone together.
“The town is great,” he said. “They come out and support every game and once we won the championship and came back they had a parade bus for us and had a nice big parade and it was just a big celebration.”
After graduating from St. Mary’s, LaGuerre set out to spend the summer months looking to get signed and play overseas.
“I went to a Philadelphia D-League tryout for some exposure and because it was a great opportunity,” Laguerre said. “I wasn’t selected but through that tryout was offered another D-League tryout with the Maine Red Claws in Boston, which [St. Mary’s head men’s basketball head] coach [Chris] Harney told me I was invited to go to.”
He wasn’t selected for that team, but gained experience.
“After that I went to Las Vegas [in July] for an exposure camp to try to impress scouts in hopes to sign with a team,” LaGuerre said.
After that camp LaGuerre made a lot of connections and signed with his first contract with an agent based in Las Vegas.
“After the camp and signing, I was pretty much at a standstill with basketball,” he said. “I didn’t have any offers and didn’t see much progress so I decided to go my separate ways with that agent and went at it by myself for the next three and-ahalf months.
“After contacting hundreds of coaches and agents, I finally found someone who was willing to work with me in helping me get overseas and at the end of December I signed my first pro contract and was off to Spain in the beginning of January.”
LaGuerre said the competition level is very good and different from what he was used to playing coming from college.
“Now every game you’re playing with professionals who understand what’s at stake because these are people’s jobs on the line so the pressure to perform well is high,” he said.
The road to the championship took some time for LaGuerre to get acclimated.
“Personally, it was challenging because I came in midway through the season so the team had already known each other for a couple months, and I had to come in and kind of piece things together as fast as I could, but like every team we had our ups and downs, but I feel like we all stayed focused on the main goal, which was to win it all.”
One game that stands out in LaGuerre’s mind is playing the first-place team on his home court.
“Towards the very end of the season [we played first-place team], and it was a very tough game that came down to the last possession,” he said. “I was having a rough fourth quarter, but thankfully my coach had confidence to keep me in the game and I ended up making the game-winning three to give us the win.”
Laguerre has his sights set on improving going forward.
“I’m just going to try and improve each and every day and year,” he said. “Hopefully once I get an established basketball résumé I’ll be able to have a successful career down the road.”