Eighth-grade boys unstoppable

The boys on the eighth-grade basketball team from Bigfork wrapped up their middle school career in style with another undefeated season.

The team lost only one game since they began playing together in the fifth grade, and that loss came last year when they were playing as a split squad in a tournament game against Polson.

Their coach this year, Bill Epperly, said he thought that the driving force behind their winning streak was their desire to be successful.

"We had six or seven kids that when they stepped on the court they played really hard and that's what's going to be important if they want to improve," Epperly said.

This year the eighth-grade boys scored 806 points in 14 games for an average of 57.6 points per game. Meanwhile, their opponents scored 493, which is an average of 35.2. Bigfork had 50 3-pointers to their opponents' 17. They were 89 for 166 from the free-throw line, which is a success rate of 54 percent. In comparison, their opponents shot 80 for 217, or 37 percent.

This season the BMS team went up against Ronan twice, Polson three times, Lakeside-Somers twice, two different Whitefish teams, Charlo twice, Eureka once and two different teams from Kalispell. The Bigfork boys won every game by at least a 10-point margin. Their narrowest victory was against one of the Kalispell teams, which they only beat by nine points in a 53-44 victory.

"To me the most important thing is getting them in the gym and improving their skills," Bill Epperly said. "It's great to win all your games, but it's more important to just be out there learning the game of basketball."

There were 12 boys on this year's team: Colten Dopps, Nathan Stewart, Kyle Duval, Dillon Hilling, Nick Miller, Evan Epperly, Chris Evans, Matt Quist, Wyatt Fisher, Cameron Nissen, Austin Williamson and Chris Ruiz.

All but Nissen and Duval played on last year's 15-1 team. Duval transferred to Bigfork this year from Kalispell and Nissen elected not to play last year. As seventh graders, the team was coached by Bill's son Jim.

"They're a special group," Jim Epperly said. "They have a lot of potential."

Bill also helped out last year since Jim was also coaching the freshman girls team at Bigfork High School.

"Having worked with them last year, I knew we'd be successful, but I didn't know how successful," Bill Epperly said. "I knew we'd win more games than we lost, but I didn't know how far they had come."

Evan Epperly was the team's top scorer with 400 points, giving him an average of 28.6 points per game. He also led the team in 3-pointers with 24 and had the best average from the free-throw line, 66 percent, having made 48 of his 73 shots.

Quist was the team's second highest scorer for the team this season with 111 points, including four 3-pointers. Ruiz had four 3-pointers as well this year. Evans contributed 85 points, including two 3-pointers, and was 11 for 23 from the line. Fisher put up 77 points, made 43 percent of his free throws and had the second most 3-pointers on the team, 15. Nissen added 53 points for the team's big year. Williamson had 34 points even though he missed four games and he had the second best rate from the free-throw line with 55 percent.

"For the most part the kids were a pretty good shooting team for their age," Bill Epperly said. "My mom told me a long time ago that if you want to win you have to put the ball in the hole more times than the other guys you're playing."

The boys were solid shooters, but Epperly still had his work cut out for him coaching the boys this season.

"The first thing is trying to get a team atmosphere and an understanding that no matter who is scoring or what is going on in practice that the most important thing is that they learn to work well together and support each other as a team," Epperly said. "I always emphasize that we have to have everyone do what they're good at and use them where they are best used. Evan is as good of a shooter as any eighth grader in this part of the state, but if you want to win basketball games you have to have good team defense and you have to be able to pass the ball."

Since most of the boys had played together for the previous three years on the school's team and Rotary teams in addition to going to school together, creating a team atmosphere wasn't too tough for Epperly but it still had its days.

"Most of the kids are all friends, but it's a different story when you step inside the lines," Epperly said. "It's a day-by-day thing. When you coach eighth graders you have to have a lot of patience, but I really enjoyed coaching them. I also really appreciated the parents' support all season Many of them came to every game. I really hope the kids had a positive experience on the team."

Giving the boys a solid foundation to carry onto their high school basketball team was one of Epperly's biggest goals.

"I'm just hoping that we were able to improve their skill level in order to prepare them for high school ball," Epperly said. "A lot of them have a ways to go, but that's what the game is all about. The kids at that age have some trouble with confidence. We got that somewhat emphasized. They still have to transfer that idea into what they do on the court, though."

As much as he hopes that he has helped the boys grow as basketball players, Epperly said that he also hopes that he has helped their love of the game grow as well.

"Hopefully, we've given them a boost and an appreciation for the game," Epperly said. "They've got to get in the gym and just play, and they've got to go to camps as much as they can if they want to be successful at the next level."

However, it is hard to say if all 12 boys will keep going with the sport, he said.

"I don't know how many will continue to play," Epperly said. "I imagine quite a few, but you don't know. You just try to create an interest and hope they carry it on."