By Tom Price Jr.
Former Lindsay Cardinal standouts and current big men for the College of the Sequoias Men's basketball team, twins Matt and David Misko recently signed on with Division I colleges.
Matt signed on with the San Jose Spartans and David with UC Riverside.
"We are not happy yet, we have a lot more to go. We knew it was going to be hard but we expected it." Matt said. "We are going to hit the weight room, work hard over the summer and try to gain 20 pounds."
Hard work is what landed the two Lindsay natives in the COS basketball program. Don Perales, their high school head coach, says the twins made their own path to college.
"That was their thing, they were extremely hard workers," Perales said. "They are very smart players, they mastered the inside and the outside part of the game."
The COS Giants have gotten off to a quick start this season winning its first seven games and winning the Modesto Tournament last weekend.
In the tournaments championship game Matt scored 11 points and was named the tournament's Most Valuable Player.
Matt says the success he has had so far is due to the direction he has received his whole career.
"Coach Perales and the whole system in Lindsay, everyone there has had good input for us," Matt Misko said. "We have teachers that still come to our games and that means a lot."
The transition from players that played in a flex offense in Lindsay where they spent time on the wings an on the perimeter, to pure post players was a tough one for the 6 foot 10 inch twins.
"We are not just given a role, now we have to work for them," David said. "Everything we get we have to earn."
They earned an opportunity to play at the next level of competition, an accomplishment that they care dearly about.
"We just want to keep playing basketball," David Misko said. "It is really important to us. Friends and family come first and that is just about it."
Currently the two still live in Lindsay and make the commute to Visalia everyday. The full time students say they are in no hurry to get out of Lindsay they just want to keep playing basketball.
"We wouldn't want to leave if they had a UC Lindsay," David said. "But there isn't and we want to continue playing."
