Thompson Falls ready to run the court

Danielle Switalski

Every team has their own personal on court strategy.  For Thompson Falls, it is running, which is conducive with their first and secondary breaks the Blue Hawks will use to set up their offensive plays and score most of their points in the upcoming season.

“Everyone knows we are going to run and want to run,” said Head Coach Chad Laws.

Thompson Falls plans to play an up tempo game and see how their opposing teams react to them running the ball up and down the court, relying on their speed in order to get into a transition offense.

Along with their speed, Thompson Falls will also have some good size on the court this year with Challace Wilson coming in at 6’6, Will Dalby at 6’3, Mike Woods at 6’4 and Chris Pavlok at 6’3.  Wood and Dalby are the only returning starters and there are seven seniors total out for the team this year, including seasoned athlete Richard Lyons who switched from wrestling to basketball after three years on the wrestling team.  Laws said Lyons will bring some qualities to the court, particularly on the defensive side.

This season the Blue Hawks aren’t going to rely on one defensive strategy and plan to interchange between zone and man to man depending on the strength of the team they are playing at the time, however they will utilize a trapping defense in order to get a transition out of it and break off into their transition offense.   Last year, Thompson Falls used the full court press 70 to 80 percent of the time.

Laws said the depth of their team will be very important this season, playing nine players deep, where some teams stick to only five or six players on the court at the Varsity level.

Last season, the Blue Hawks placed second in the District Tournament and went on to Divisonals.  They ended their season 14-10.

Laws, who has been head coach for the past 10 years, said they only look to the game in front of them.  Currently, they are preparing for their first game of the season against Hot Springs the weekend of December 11 and 12 for the Sanders County tournament.

“Hot springs has one of the best athletes in Western Montana, Riley Winebrenner, so he will be a force, we don’t want him to get hot,” said Laws regarding their first game against the Class C school, Thompson Falls being class B.

Although Laws does not like to look past the game in front of them, the Blue Hawks will be setting out to beat Big Fork, which is new to the conference and a considerably larger school, and Plains, which has some strong players returning this season.

Laws said the team is still defining themselves and finding out what works in the first few games of the season, particularly who is going to commit to rebounding and who will be the best runners.

“Our goal is to be the best team in that gym on that night,” said Laws.

Questions or comments on this story can be directed to Reporter Danielle Switalski by emailing her at reporter@VP-MI.com or by giving her a call at 826-3431.