Hudsonville baseball star blossoms into a good basketball player, too

Hudsonville junior Breylan McPhaul goes up for a layup against NorthPointe Christian at the Cornerstone Holiday Tournament on Wednesday, Dec. 28, 2022. He had a game-high 23 points. (Photo | Lenny Padilla).

GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. - Breylan McPhaul wasn’t really on anyone’s radar last year as a basketball player, including his own coaching staff.

But the Hudsonville junior has blossomed into a dynamic player for the Eagles.

Growing a few inches in one year has helped.

“I wasn’t as tall last year,” said McPhaul, who is 6-foot-6, 185 pounds. “So that’s a bit of a confidence boost. All I could do was shoot and I didn’t have the best handles. But then I grew and I started to do training with Marcus Lancaster at UTS Elite. I probably trained with him for three months and I noticed my dribbling got better and I could shoot it more and jump higher. It made me more of an athlete.”

McPhaul had a game-high 23 points in just three quarters as Hudsonville beat NorthPointe Christian 73-56 on Wednesday night. Hudsonville improves to 3-2.

“He’s one of those kids where things just started to click,” Hudsonville coach Eric Elliott said. “Every week he gets a little bit better. Obviously, he’s a huge spark for us.”

Ironically, McPhaul is a better baseball player. His baseball coach at Hudsonville, Dave VanNoord, said he could be a Division 1 pitcher.

Hudsonville’s Breylan McPhaul is a pitcher on the Eagles baseball team. (Photo | Lenny Padilla).

“I think he has Division I potential if he continues to work at it in school,” VanNoord said. It’s great that he plays another sport. I think that benefits him too by playing basketball.” 

VanNoord likes McPhaul’s upside.

“He’s an incredibly talented baseball player,” VanNoord said. “He has a classic pitchers build. He throws from the side a little bit. He’s gaining velocity. It seems like he’s two or three inches taller already since last year.”

He comes from an athletic family. His father, Derrick McPhaul played football in college, as did his uncle Brek Trevino. Another uncle, Shane Trevino, played baseball at Indiana Purdue Fort Wayne. 

“My uncle played Division I baseball,” McPhaul said. “So I get a lot of talk from my family that I can play D1. But I’m not trying to settle right now. If I could play basketball in college … it would be tough to pick. I think I could play either one.”

Last year, McPhaul played on the JV basketball team and didn’t really show much potential. But Elliott said one year made a huge difference.

“He’s a heck of a competitor and a heck of an athlete,” Elliot said. “He’s grown three or four inches since last year, so that’s helped. We didn’t see him for much of the summer, because he’s a heck of a baseball player.” 

Hudsonville junior Breylan McPhaul scores against NorthPointe Christian at the Cornerstone Holiday Tournament on Wednesday, Dec. 28, 2022. He had a game-high 23 points. (Photo | Lenny Padilla).