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Former Laker Standout Starts Fast at Marquette

By Tom Schardin, 12/03/20, 10:45AM CST

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Dawson Garcia has made a quick impression on the Division I basketball court.

The 2020 Prior Lake High School graduate has already earned some accolades, capturing Big East Conference Freshman of the Week honors for Marquette University.

The 6-foot-11, 235-pound forward averaged 17.5 points and 6.0 rebounds in his first two collegiate games, helping the Golden Eagles to wins over Arkansas-Pine Bluff (99-57) and Eastern Illinois (75-50).

Garcia shot 55.6 percent from the field in the two victories, making 4 of 6 shots from 3-point range and going 11 of 13 from the charity stripe.

Garcia finished with a team-high 19 points against Arkansas-Pine Bluff and added a team-best 16 points and eight boards in beating Eastern Illinois.

Not a bad start for the former Laker standout, who finished his Prior Lake career as the school's all-time leading scorer and was a Mr. Basketball finalist his senior year.

However, Garcia was slowed in his third game with Marquette Dec. 1, scoring just four points and pulling down two rebounds in the Golden Eagles' 70-62 loss to Oklahoma State.

There will likely be some bumps in the road for Garcia in his first season playing high-level Division I basketball. It's not an easy adjustment going from high school to a starter in college for a major university.

But Marquette coach Steve Wojciechowski believes Garcia has the game to make the transition.

"Dawson is a position-less player with great versatility and competitiveness and can be one of the top players throughout his time at Marquette," Wojciechowski said.

At Prior Lake, Garcia averaged 31.6 points for the Lakers in his senior season, scoring more than 2,000 points in his four-year career.

Last April, Garcia was supposed to be one two Minnesotans to compete in the 43rd annual McDonald's All-American Game in Houston. He and Jalen Suggs of Minnehaha Academy were selected to play.

The game features the top 24 seniors in the U.S. and Canada, but the 43rd contest was canceled due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.

Suggs won Mr. Basketball and he's in his first season at Gonzaga University. Both Suggs and Garcia were the two highest-rated recruits out of Minnesota last season.

Garcia was ranked the No. 35 prospect in the country by rivals.com in the 2020 graduation class, while Suggs was ranked No. 11.