New coach has high expectations

Of the 40 boys who attended the first day of tryouts for the Bigfork High School basketball program, 31 made it through the two-day screening, which was filled with conditioning, drills and continual reaffirmation of the commitment that would be required to be part of one of the three Vikings teams.

"We feel confident that we have a lot of potential and that this could be a very successful year for us," said Paul LaMott, BHS head boys basketball coach. "However, we have a long way to go so we are working hard collectively so that this can be as successful of a year as possible."

The varsity boys team has just one returner, senior Keenan Evans, after graduating the other seven mainstays on the roster.

"Even though we're thin on varsity experience, many of these boys played on the junior varsity last year and they had a very successful season, as did the freshman team," LaMott said. "We just have to increase their playing to the varsity level now."

The only other senior on this year's varsity team is Lael Richmond, who played mainly on the junior varsity team last year but saw a fair amount of playing time on the varsity.

Also moving up from last year's JV team are juniors Christian Ker, Evan Jordt, Carter Sorenson, Ben Sandry and Travis Knoll, many of which also played up on the varsity as well.

There are three sophomores joining the varsity squad from last year's freshman team: Ian Lorang, Cody Dopps and Jackson Boese. Lorang was given a couple of opportunities at the end of last year's season to play with the varsity.

"We chose the players that we felt were capable now of playing at the varsity level," LaMott said of selecting his team. "That was our only criteria. I would've liked to have had 11 or 12 boys on the roster, but we have a few on the JV that I hope will put in some work so we will be able to look to them to play up onto the varsity. But for right now, these 10 are the ones that have the skills and the attitude to play at the varsity level."

Now that LaMott has his team in place, he is working to prepare them for their upcoming season.

The boys will participate in the school's annual Blue and White Scrimmage at 6 p.m. today, Dec. 3. Their first games will be next Friday and Saturday, Dec. 11-12, at the Tipoff Tournament co-hosted by Polson and Ronan.

The Vikings' first conference matchup will be Thursday, Dec. 17, in Eureka. They will host their first home game at 1 p.m. Saturday, Dec. 19, against Loyola.

"We have a lot to get in in a short amount of time," LaMott said. "So we're trying to get a base-point to be able to compete in basically two weeks. Then we will expand on that as we have more time."

LaMott, who is coaching in Bigfork for the first time this year, has much higher expectations for the boys program than that of recent years, which is greatly reflected in his rigorous practices.

He is hoping that the boys will buy into his program and that their commitment and hard work will payoff for them in the form of a successful season.

"They are doing great and we're looking for even more from them," LaMott said. "The response initially has been very positive and we feel we'll be able to get where we need to be. We're really working on our beliefs. We're working on them believing in themselves and in the program. It has been encouraging to see them progress through that."

Junior Varsity

There is a little more consistency with the JV team than the varsity, as Jay Hall returns as their coach for the second year in a row.

"We're going to be a real strong team this year," Hall said. "Defensively, we'll be better than we were last year I think. I'm really excited about coaching this year. I think it's going to be a good season."

Juniors Kyle Hauns and Ryan Gembala are returning to the JV team from last year. Sophomores Alex Ruiz, Ronny Gallegos, Dillon Fraley and Connor Coleman have all moved up from last year's freshman team.

"It's a lot of the same kids, but it's a different program this year," Hall said. "We're focusing on different things."

Junior Kenji Sagami is rejoining the program after not playing last season.

Freshmen Colter Trent, Austin Jordt and Chris Landon all earned a spot on the JV team as well.

"They're all strong players," Hall said of the three freshmen. "They wouldn't be there if they weren't."

Hall, who is the only boys coach that returned to the program from last year, said some of the biggest changes he sees in the program are intensity and the time they are putting in on working on defense.

He also noted that the athletes in the program are much younger than those who made up last year's teams.

That will put some extra pressure on the older kids in the program, including on Hall's JV team.

"The younger kids will be learning from the three juniors on the team," he said. "I think it is good they have them there for leadership and to look up to."

The JV boys will play in the Blue and White Scrimmage and then have two weeks to prepare for their first game, which will be Dec. 17 in Eureka.

They host their first home game Dec. 19 against Loyola.

Froshmore

Although the freshmen class lost three of their standouts to the JV and varsity teams, they are gaining three sophomores who will help with leadership and numbers on the court.

Sophomores Dillon Kuntz, Mitchel Harsh and Ryan Hayes are all returning for a second year on the froshmore team.

"That's going to help us with leadership," said Todd Trent, BHS froshmore coach. "It obviously hurts us to lose the three freshmen that moved up. We gained some height though, so we'll be good on the inside. Some of the other guys are going to have to step up and fill some pretty big shoes that the three freshmen that moved up left."

New to the high school program this year are freshmen Seth Roessman, Matt Killian, Tyler Kirby, Austin Gordon, Luke LaFontaine, Logan Lamm, Hank McLeod and David Bratcher.

"They all played last year and several played on the traveling team this summer," Trent said of the freshmen's experience. "No one is new to basketball, which is nice. The offense we're running is similar to what we've been running with them so that will help too."

Even though everyone in the BHS boys program is starting from the ground up as they learn LaMott's new ways of doing things, the freshmen have the greatest challenge ahead of them as they also struggle to learn to play in the high school arena.

"It's going to be mainly developmental stuff," Trent said of his focus for the boys in practice. "We're going to have to really work on fundamentals. They are young, but most of them have been playing basketball for a long time so they will pick it up fast, and really they already are."

After participating in the Blue and White Scrimmage, the froshmore team will be the first of the BHS teams to compete in a real game.

They will host Stillwater Christian at 5:30 p.m. Monday, Dec. 7.