By Jeremy McDonald
Jeremymcdonald73@gmail.com
SALEM, Ore.– The West Salem Boys Basketball team is ready to take that next step entering this Winter.
Last year was a foundational year. First year coaching staff under Dean Sanderson, new faces on the court. And yet, the Titans rose to the occasion. With a new look squad, they went 14-12 on the year and reached the 6A State Second Round before falling to Southridge.
Jonah Munns, Jacob Sanderson, Evan Wusstig are the returning starters for West Salem this season. Munns has improved a lot over the offseason with his work on the court, Jaxson Oretel is someone who Coach Sanderson is hoping will take that next step this season and Jarrett Peil returning to the hardwood after some time away. They even welcome Jack Lapray from South Salem.
The thing becomes now, is how they all mess it together for when the season begins on the other side of the Thanksgiving Holiday.
“You think about last year from the year before, it was pretty much everyone was new. New coaching staff and some seniors who graduated. Tyler Hawkins, Tyler Sommer, Hudson Whipple, some guys who were pretty solid for us,” starts Dean Sanderson. “The thing that we don’t have with this group is a lot of size. We’re hoping (Diggs) Sladek can come back eventually, he’s working really hard at it. We’re going to have to compete with very little size.
“Jonah
But Sanderson believes that they have the pieces there to compete. They’re a mentally-strong team, points out the coach as they start the season with a gauntlet. They open the regular season with the defending 6A State Champions on December 5 before hosting Oregon City and Clackamas before going into the Capitol City Classic and the Oregon Holiday Hoopfest in Bend.
And that’s just in December alone. All to prepare them for what they’re hoping to be a 6A Playoff Push come February and March.
“It’s a gauntlet of a schedule to start. We have a mentally strong team that is going to compete anyway with that and we’ll see where we’re at. We want to be able to play with those teams in February and March, so we’ll see where we’re at early in December and go from there. They’re just athlete’s. We have five really good athlete’s to start, which will cause match-up problems for other people, so we’ll see,” said Sanderson.
Photos By Jeremy McDonald
