Local hoopsters ready to hit the hardwood

One team that will have some new pieces is Tony White’s Dufur team.

Without some graduated seniors and Levi Morris, White brings in Bailey Keever, Kolbe Bales and Connor Uhalde, along with Ethan Wetherbee, Ben Anderson, Travis Lucas and Curtis Crawford and freshmen Taber Mcloughlin, Derek Frakes, Cole Kortge, Tanner Masterson and Anthony Thomas.

“We have a good crop of freshman coming up,” White said. “They have shown improvement and are eager to get to work. We are still running some things from last year, but will be adding some different things for the year to come.”

Dufur’s overall size will be limited, but there is a speed element White plans to exploit, so pressure defense, transition baskets and running will be integrated as a new look.

“We will be looking at taking advantage of what we are good at and working hard at defending in the post with a smaller lineup,” White said. “We have a lot of work to do incorporating some of these new strategies as well as bringing some of the younger guys into the fold of playing varsity basketball.”

In all, there will be 18 teams, but four for pool play games only, as South Wasco County, Dufur, Horizon Christian, Nixyaawii, Hosanna and Sherman vie for playoff games Sunday.

Sherman brings back four of its five starters after losing Austin Kaseberg.

Alex Fields and sophomore Treve Martin will step into the fold, incoming freshman Keenan Coles has size and ability, and the core of Jacob Justesen, Max Martin, Kyle Fields and Isaiah Coles have been working well this summer and have all shown improvement, head coach Bill Blevins said.

“We have had a young core for the past couple of years, however, these kids will be upper classmen and we expect more from them in all facets of the game – offense, defense and leadership,” Blevins said.

Offensively, the Huskies will look to continue with what they have been doing with a lot of motion offense.

“However, we will add a couple of wrinkles to our defensive schemes to mix things up from time to time,” Blevins said.

South Wasco County has another roster change with the loss of Loreto Morelli, Tony Holliday and Colton Nannini, but Ellis Rager, Devan Dammann, Ty Herlocker and the rest of the Redsides will go back to their roots of using a post presence.

New The Dalles coach Nathan Morris has hit the ground running with the Riverhawks and running they will do this summer.

TD has a game at 6 p.m. tonight at the middle school, and plays at 3 p.m. and 4 p.m. Thursday.

“Right now, we have been working on playing faster and a different offensive scheme that is more spread out creating more space for players to operate,” Morris said.