Boys basketball hopes to take step forward

By: 
Gray Hughes

The Hill City boys basketball team is looking to build on the steps they took last year.

This year, there are some new faces on the team, said head coach Nate Baynes, so that will take some time to integrate them and get used to playing together.

“But we do have a higher level of expectation for sure,” he said. “Those are internal for now, but we do expect to have a very competitive, fun season.”

Bayne has his leading scorer back, Kobe Main (junior), and he expects Main to take a step forward.

Bayne also returns leading rebounder Willy Walther (junior), who he describes as a really good, all-around player.

Expected to take a big jump will be Erick Jorgensen, who played a lot as an eighth grader last year. Bayne said he’s starting to get more aggressive and starting to get more comfortable.

“And then we have a lot of juniors and seniors who are expecting to contribute,” Bayne said. “There are a couple new faces in there...but we have seven or eight guys we’re going to be leaning heavily on. We expect them all to produce.”

The goal for his team this season is to get better every day and to stay healthy.

With a season full of uncertainty with games being rescheduled and canceled nearly every day, Bayne said he wants to take it all one day at a time and not look too far ahead.

“But we expect to be in every game that we play and come out on top of a lot of them,” he said.

Bayne enters his second season as head coach. One thing he learned last season was ironing out philosophy.

He said he likes the basic tenants of the foundation his program is built on. Now, it’s just a matter of leaning in on the things his team does well and the things they know need work as well as cutting away things that didn’t work or didn’t feel as good last year.

“Everything is smoother this time around,” Bayne said. “That’s the main thing. As a head coach, being prepared and knowing what I need to do before every practice, every week. I have a better idea of it.”

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