Young basketball team wraps up season

The eighth grade boys' basketball team worked hard and improved throughout the entire season which ran the last week of October through December.

Coach Justin Nicklous told The Nugget that the boys had few practices before their first game and worked hard to learn new offensive and defensive strategies. The boys were split into A and B teams, and many boys played on both teams.

Nicklous noted a few highlights.

"The A team defeated Elton Gregory of Redmond twice during the season. They also made tremendous improvement from the beginning of the year to the end by playing Crook County and Jefferson County Middle School (JCMS) to close games," said Nicklous.

A memorable moment for the B team was their victory over JCMS of Madras on a last second shot by Marcus Arends after losing the week before by 15 points. The B team also had another big win at Crook County.

Of the team's improvements throughout the year Nicklous said, "This group of kids gave their all every day in practice. I'm excited to see how they progress both as individuals and as a group in high school."

Seventeen players made up the roster for the A and B teams. Austin Williams, Zach Mickel and Devon Prescott played at point guard. Williams, Taylor Steel, Marcus Arends, Scott Everson, Sam Quinn, Nate Roy, Trevor Martel and Daniel Faludi covered at wing, and Roy, Faludi, Chad Cummins, Eric Carlson, Jon Green, Ben Fullhardt, Jared Nelson, Alex Christiano and Marteen Jimenez played post.

The seventh grade also expanded this season to field both an A and B team.

The A team finished their season with a record of two wins and six losses. Jalen Miller, Sebastian Boehme, Bryce Alderman, Brennan Layne and Ryan Long started for the A team.

Coach Jeff Reynolds told The Nugget that all of the boys who participated in the program showed a lot of improvement, especially on defense.

"Several boys on these two teams are playing in some post season tournaments here in Sisters and continue to work on their game," said Reynolds.