Dick Oglesby
and Sean C. Morgan
Of The New Era
New coach Konstanty Knurowski is feeling optimistic as the Huskies head into the boys basketball season.
Though he has yet to decide on a starting line-up, he has six players returning from last year’s varsity squad, which finished its season in the first round of the playoffs at Hidden Valley.
That was then. This is now.
Senior Ryan Graville (6-1), a third-team all-league selection, was a starter last year and will play a considerable number of minutes at wing, Knurowski said. Senior Josh Riggs also started last year and, at 6-3 and 240 pounds, is the team’s biggest player.
“He gives us our biggest post presence,” Knurowski said.
Juniors Drew Emmert and Brent Moyer, with significant late-season varsity minutes last year, will both spend time at point and wing, while junior Levi Marchbanks (6-2), last year’s sixth man, “looks really good right now.” He’ll mostly play at high post and spend a little time on the perimeter.
Junior Jerome Coleman, who swung between the varsity and JV squads last year, is going full-time varsity and will play mostly in the post.
“I imagine the majority of the minutes will come from those guys,” Knurowski said. “The kids are still competing for spots.”
Moving up from last year’s JV and freshman squads are junior Brock Cota and sophomore Gavin Kauffman, Knurowski said. Kauffman had a great summer for the Huskies and will play some serious minutes, the coach said.
The team will swing three players, including junior John Webb at guard, Knurowski said. He did a good job playing varsity during the summer. He is joined by sophomores Taylor Mauch and Zach Miller.
“They had a really good tryout and work hard,” Knurowski said. They have separated themselves a little bit to get up to the varsity level.
The team will be young this year, but the Huskies did a nice job last summer, Knurowski said, winning a majority of their games.
Knurowski, who played at East Linn Christian Academy and Hesston College, replaces Tim Little, who moved to Idaho over the summer after coaching at Sweet Home for 10 years. Knurowski coached at 6A Division North Salem before taking over at Sweet Home.
He brings a different style to the Huskies from the half-court game Sweet Home has played in recent years. The Huskies will feature a thunder-and-lightening run-and-shoot offense and a little more full-court press on defense, which promises to make them an exciting team to watch. In a recent practice team members worked on moving the ball quickly down court at lightening speed, using as few dribbles as possible.
“We’re trying to speed up the tempo,” Knurowski said, but “we’re still defense-minded.”
On the thunder side of the game (defense) they’ll play more of the court on defense, picking up the ball a little sooner, Knurowski said.
“We’ll get the ball out of the rim or net and push it up the floor.”
The coach said he is confident after his team’s performance in three summer tournaments and at the Seaside camp.
“In the three tournaments we won over 60 percent of our games,” he said.
Though the Huskies lack height, they’ll make up for that with hustle, he said.
“We do not have any 6-7 players, but all we have are over 6 feet and play very aggressively,”
He said coaching a new team at a new school during the first year is a challenge.
“You must gain the respect of the players and visa versa,” Knurowski said. “Once you get that out of the way it is a matter of working together as a team.”
The league lost much of its upper echelon last year, Knurowski said. Newport lost its top seven players but had a good junior varsity squad. Philomath lost the league MVP, who is now playing for Oregon State.
“Philomath just kind of reloads,” he said, so he expects the Warriors to be tough.
“Central should be much improved,” he said. “Their (new) coach is very good.”
Although the Panthers had a tough season last year, they have considerable talent and didn’t lose much, he said. If there’s a league favorite, it’s probably Central.
Taft lost its top two players, he said. The Tigers play hard. “Especially going over there, they’re going to be tough.”
The league has three playoff spots again this year, Knurowski said. He hopes to finish right in the thick of it for one of those spots.
Last year, the Huskies made it to the second round of state playoffs after defeating Seaside, the furthest they’ve gotten since 2000. They were eliminated by Hidden Valley, a team that had not lost at home in some four years.
First and foremost, Knurowski said, is to get back into playoffs.
“That’s what we have our sights on, playing in that second season,” he said.
The coaching staff includes Casey Humphry at the freshman level. A 2005 graduate of Lebanon High School, he coached with Knurowski at North Salem High School last year.
He is attending Western Oregon University and studying to be a PE-health teacher.
Kyle Dziedzic is assisting Humphry. He is a 2006 graduate of Lebanon High School. He played for Knurowski and coached with him at North.
He is attending Linn-Benton Community College and expects to transfer to Western. He plans to be a teacher.
Last year’s freshman coach, Tim Matuszak, is coaching the JV this year. He is attending Chemeketa Community College and studying secondary education.
The Huskies will host an alumni tournament at 9 a.m. on Nov. 29 at Sweet Home High School. Registration starts at 8 a.m. Cost is $10.