Luke Babbitt’s high school rival works out with Blazers

When it comes to producing star basketball players, Reno doesn’t quite compare with cities such as Seattle or Los Angeles. But just a few years ago, there was a major individual rivalry involving Luke Babbitt and Olek Czyz, the latter of which participated in a pre-draft workout with the Blazers Saturday.

Czyz is originally from Poland, but attended Reno High and eventually earned a scholarship to Duke before transferring to Nevada. Before that, however, he was trying to establish himself as Reno’s best prep player.

“They don’t get athletes like us very often in such a small city,” Czyz said. “There were a lot of people bragging about it.”

After their match-up in December of 2007, however, Luke was the only one bragging. Babbitt had 34 points and led Galena High to a win. Czyz had four points on 1 of 14 shooting. Even so, Czyz said he remains good friends with Babbitt.

“My family and I we’re always following Luke,” Czyz said. “We’re really happy to see him succeed.”