By Abby Kinoshita, Talon Staff Reporter

One season ago, the boys basketball team never won a game. They ended the 2013-14 season with an 0-23 record. This year, they not only set a school high of 12-13 games, but also managed to be second in the league and make it to playoffs. At the beginning of the season, the team set a goal to at the least try and be third in the league. After a victorious win against pendleton, they all could agree that they should try and be second or first in the league. How did they manage to pull this off? Junior Noah Noteboom states “This is the second year in a row playing with the same guys, so we get used to each other. We’ve just learned how to work together.”  Not only have the boys learned to work together, but they’re running a new offense. “We changed our offensive system. We shoot the ball every 12-15 seconds and 30% of our shots are three’s” says Junior Dallas Buckley. The new style of play has greatly affected the boy basketball team. Watching the boys this year, they are one cohesive team rather than five individuals playing their own game. “We’ve definitely changed the style of play this year. We are now scoring twenty points a game more than last year, so that was a major difference this year.” says Head Coach Steve Noteboom. “We were actually having fun, smiling, just enjoying it.” says Junior Skyler Hunter. And that made all the difference. They were able to enjoy the season. They are all friends. This was the big difference in their playing. They learned to play together and for each other, rather than play for themselves. “We not only preceded expectations, but made it to first round of playoffs. I think we did pretty good.” Says Senior Austen Clarke “The best part of the season was Skyler’s winning buzzer beater against Madison.” Says Clarke. The boys had a great season. We hope to see big things for the team next year.

Picture courtesy: Nan Noteboom