Sean C. Morgan
Of The New Era
The high school boys basketball team returns six lettermen, including four seniors, and their expectations are high.
Basically, it’s win or bust for the Huskies as they join the ValCo League for the first time.
Back this year for Sweet Home are seniors Brandon Weist and Nathan Whitfield and juniors Colton Emmert and Gabe Kauffman, who all had significant varsity minutes last year. Seniors Jon Ball and Ricky Worley also return.
Joining them are seniors Ray Lingenfelter and exchange student Xiang Li. The team also adds juniors Dustin Hay, Brandon Nunn and Nick Stockton and sophomores Kyle Carter, Ryan Graville and Josh Riggs.
“I’m keeping 14 this year,” said Coach Tim Little. “We decided to keep our exchange student. We thought it would be great for him, and he’s a lot of fun to be around.”
The team can run 14 players during the season, Little said, but it can only dress 12 for playoffs.
“Starting positions are still kind of being earned right now,” Little said. The four most experienced varsity players have had a great pre-season practice.
Weist and Kauffman will play at guard and forward. Emmert will run point, and Whitfield will play at forward.
“Worley had a great summer season,” Little said. “He’s shown a lot of leadership and enthusiasm the last couple weeks. He’ll be an important key for us.
“Jon Ball is going to be a forward. He and Nathan will share a lot of time at that position.”
Carter and Graville played a lot of varsity minutes during summer ball, and they played well, Little said. “Kyle is high-intensity and brings the intensity and leadership (that we really need) as a sophomore to the team.
“Ray’s been in our program four years. He’s got a great work ethic. He knows the program inside and out. He knows what’s expected. He’s a great student.”
Nunn, Stockton and Hay will swing to junior varsity.
Nunn is a transfer from Irrigon, Little said. He’s been in a whirlwind since joining the Huskies. His school had six guys out and didn’t run man defense.
Riggs “is a big body coming off the freshman team last year that only lost two games,” Little said. He was a leader on the team and will probably swing until he gets some basketball conditioning. He will contribute defensively at the varsity level.
“Expectations going in are high,” Little said. This team was the most successful summer team he’s had. The Huskies beat several tough teams during the summer season.
“We’re going into league kind of under the radar,” Little said. “We expect to finish top two.”
Finishing in the top two is important because only the top two will go on to state playoffs because the ValCo League only has five teams. Next year, the league will send three to state.
While he expects a top-two finish, the road will be tough, Little said. “Philomath, Central and Newport are all strong this year. It won’t be surprising if the league champion has three or four losses because we play everybody three times.”
The Huskies split games with Philomath during summer season, and they beat Taft. They did not play Central or Newport.
“This year, we’re going to be very talented,” Little said. “Last year, we had a core group that was real physical and had speed, but we struggled offensively to get points on the board.”
Little expects a 180-degree turn this season with offensive production, he said. The team’s core plays only basketball, year round. The players shoot well and they play well as a team.
The team has struggled with physicality and defense, so opponents’ scoring could be up this year, he said. The main focus of practice at this point has been on defensive fundamentals.
“We do have a little bit of size compared to last year,” Little said. “Defensively, we’re going to work to use that for our advantage, making sure teams don’t pound the ball inside on us this year. We should be able to rebound better, which should lead us into our transition game.”
Most likely, this year is going to be faster-paced, with the Huskies looking for easy buckets and transition hoops, Little said. This group has played together and knows how to work as a team, something that should be an improvement over the last couple of years. These players know their roles and won’t try to do everything.
“The kids are working hard at applying what we’re teaching,” Little said. They’re positive, and “they know they need to be pushed. They want to be pushed because they want to win. They want a successful season and make it to the playoffs.”
Six of 10 preseason games are against top-10 teams, he said. After that, “we’ll have a good gauge where we’re at going into league.
“We can compete for a league championship this year.”