Boys get ready for basketball season

It's time for the Sanders County high school boys to go back to court — basketball court. Nearly 100 athletes from the four county high schools will hold their first games at three different tournaments Friday and Saturday, Dec. 7-8.

Plains will host the Coffey Cup Tournament Friday and Saturday while, at the same time, Thompson Falls will hold their Winter Classic Tournament, which will include the Noxon Red Devils. Hot Springs Savage Heat will travel to the Granite Tournament at Philipsburg Friday and Saturday.

Hot Springs is the only boys team to get a new head coach this year. Kevin Meredith, a teacher at the school, replaced three-year coach Lenny Page.

Meredith is no stranger to the game. He played all four years at Plains High School and three years as a small forward at Montana Tech in Butte. After graduating from Montana State University in 2004, he landed a job at Hot Springs. Although he has a "young team" with only two seniors — Drew Flagen and Nick Pavelich — he's looking forward to the season. Hot Springs has 18 players this year, including six freshmen. Meredith, who is assisted by Chris Hess, the school's athletic director, said he's been working on offense and defense basics and going over the structure of the game. Meredith said he's got some real talented players and they've been working hard. Hot Springs' first home game will be Dec. 18 against the St. Regis Tigers.

Red Devil head coach Ryan Weltz, who's in his seventh year as head coach, also has a young team with six of his 16 players as freshmen. Weltz has only three seniors — Ryan Eichert, Pete Ferrell and Keith Therrian. Weltz took his team to divisionals last year, placed fourth and finished with a 13-8 record. He said the numbers of players going out for the team has dropped substantially over the years, probably because the school's student population has gone down. When he first started as head coach, he routinely had 25 to 30 boys on the team.

He said his team this year may lack experience, but he said he has some talented players. He's presently working on "getting them up to speed" on the game. Weltz will be assisted by Mike Tessier, who's been with the Red Devils for four or five years. Noxon's first home game is scheduled for Dec. 15 against the Charlo Vikings.

It was a Black team 57-37 victory in Plains Saturday during the Horsemen's traditional "Black and Orange" scrimmage game. For the first time in five years, the boys C-squad didn't face the Plains Trotters, which defeated the boys 38-33 last year. In 2005, the Trotters and C-squad boys tied 33-33.

On Saturday, Black took the lead from the start, finishing up the first half with a a 25-17 lead. Black's Ben Holland put in the final two baskets of the game and collected four three-pointers in the game, said John Revier, head coach for the Horsemen for four years. At 6 feet, 6 inches and the tallest on the team, sophomore Trent Thompson, a member of the Black team, led the team with 18 points. His older brother, Mitch Thompson, led for the Orange team with seven points. The Orange beat the Black team last year 64-58 and 63-49 in 2005.

Revier has 30 players for the three squads this year, including 11 freshmen and five seniors — Tanner Colombo, Cody Fryxell, Paul Green, Ian Stokes, and Dusty Burgess — but he said Colombo was the only returning senior with experience.

Revier will once again be assisted by Les Carpenter, who's been the JV coach for seven years. Cory Ovitt has taken over as coach for the C-squad this year.

"I think we're going to be really competitive this year," said Revier. The Horsemen will have its first game during the Coffey Cup Tournament Friday at 7:30 p.m. when they face the Valley Christian Eagles. On Saturday at 3 p.m., Plains goes up against Helena.

The Horsemen and Savage Heat will meet at Plains Dec. 13.

T-Falls head coach Chadd Laws has 30 players on the three squads this year and will once again be assisted by Gary Thompson and Dan Heisler. Laws, who's been the team's head coach since 2000, has four seniors on the team this year — Brandon Damaskos, Brian Schenavar, Dallas VonHeeder, and Erik Gilbert. Eight freshmen came out for the team this season. The Bluehawks were bumped in a challenge game at divisionals last year and finished the season with an 18-6 record.

The Thompson Falls annual "White and Blue" scrimmage game finished with White, the home team, defeating Blue 57-53 Thursday evening. White had a substantial lead from the start of the game. By halftime, they led 38-17. Although Blue fought back to nearly tie the game, White prevailed with the victory.

Laws said the scrimmage game is a good way to see the strengths of his players. Junior Dillon Gerstenberger, who played junior varsity last year, chalked up five three-point baskets for the White team. Laws said he'll be a starter this year. Nathan Nigh, also a junior, led with 16 points for the Blue team.

The Thompson Falls junior varsity squad will be the first game of Friday's tournament when they face Seeley. The varsity team will take on the Deer Lodge Wardens at 8:45 p.m. Friday. The Red Devils are scheduled to play Mission at 7 p.m. and Eureka Saturday at 3:15 p.m. The Bluehawks varsity players go up against the Seeley Blackhawks Saturday at 6:45 p.m.

The Bluehawks will travel to Troy Dec. 14, then face the Eureka Lions at home the following day. Thompson Falls and Plains face each other Jan. 11 at Thompson Falls.