Saints look to climb ‘staircase’ to success

The Saints men’s basketball team suffered an untimely exit in the 2013-14 season, losing to Chemeketa in an NWAACC championship tournament play-in game. This year, a young group full of new faces looks to push Mt. Hood into the league championship tourney, come March.

A sophomore-heavy team last season, the Saints welcome back four sophomore returners (Kylelle Brown, Oleg Marandyuk, Jason Wallace, and Sterling Anderson) and two redshirt freshmen (Micah Hardeman and Kody Kennedy).

New to the squad this season are 6-foot, 10-inch forward Harris Morgan (Sprague High School); 6-foot guard Jamal Muhammad (Lake Washington HS); 6-foot, 5-inch guard/forward Darrell Henry (Parkrose HS); 6-foot, 8-inch center Brenton Shropshire (Konawaena HS); 6-foot, 4-inch  guard/forward Hunter Roeder (Sam Barlow HS); 6-foot, 1-inch guard Jeremy Brown (South Salem HS); 5-foot, 8-inch guard Mak Hutson (Madison HS); and 6-foot guard Devon Larson (Auburn Riverside HS).

Three games into the young season, the Saints are still working out the kinks, boasting a less than impressive (0-3) preseason record. The three losses were to Wenatchee Valley (73-56), Everett (91-79), and Yakima Valley (83-70) community colleges.

“We are still trying to find each other and figure it out. We’re a little bit uncomfortable playing with one another, but we’re getting better every game,” said Geoff Gibor, the Saints’ six-year head basketball coach. “We’ve been on the short side of wins and losses, but with that being said, we’re taking the proper steps.”

Gibor gave a quick run-through of how the team is handling the facets of the game.

“Defensively we’ve been pretty good for the most part; our transition defense needs to get better. Rebounding the ball we’ve been okay. We can get better though; I think we will.

“I think one of the things that we are starting to get better at is executing on offense. It’s something that we’ve been working on every day and it’s gotten significantly better,” he said. “Our field goal percentage has gone up every game.”

Every year college teams lose players, and in turn have to build new chemistry. Chemistry is vital in how a team performs in practices and come game time, but this is not an issue for this year’s squad, Gibor said. “There’s a lot of new faces, but we actually have really good team chemistry.”

He continued: “There’s two sides to it: There’s a chemistry part and there’s just the physical aspect of playing together and knowing where everyone is going to be. I would say that they all get along really well. Great team chemistry.”

While it’s still too early to pinpoint that one “impact player,” Gibor discussed which players are lifting the team through doing the little things. “I really like our sophomores. They’ve (Brown, Marandyuk, Wallace, Anderson) done a really good job. Those guys have done a good job of trying to help lead this team,” he said. “I would say that Kylelle has done a good job in running the team. Oleg’s done a good job vocally and with his toughness.

And, “the younger guys have done a good job coming in trying to learn,” he said.

Gibor discussed his goals for the long season ahead,  “Obviously, we want to continue to get better in the preseason. The goal is to win every game, but if we can continue to get better, that’s what we want.

“We want to build ourselves into league (play). Last year, we saw ourselves go from an 11-2, No. 1 (rank) in the NWAACC preseason team to somebody who lost a play in game and didn’t get into the tournament. We want to make sure that we’re building. We look at it as a staircase, taking the next step every day.”

Up next for the Saints is the Fisher’s Tech Invitational in Twin Falls, Idaho. Late Thursday afternoon (after The Advocate’s press deadline), the Saints took on the “big” and “athletic” Gillette Community College of Wyoming (who average 107 points per game) to start off the tourney.

In the second game, Mt. Hood will play Westwind Prep, out of Phoenix, Ariz. The Saints finish off the Invitational against undefeated “powerhouse” host CSI (College of Southern Idaho).

Gibor sees good things ahead.

“We have a really good upside. I like the potential of the team,” he said. “The schedule doesn’t get any easier. We play a really hard preseason for that exact reason. We want to get better.”