The Dalles cheerleaders and basketball players were honored before play Tuesday on senior night. Thursday, the Hawk hoops players ended their season with a 61-38 loss to Glencoe. In the picture are, from left to right, Taylor Sugg, Colin Noonan, Alyssa Donnell, Colton Walker, Lillia Chance and Bryce Belanger.
The Dalles cheerleaders and basketball players were honored before play Tuesday on senior night. Thursday, the Hawk hoops players ended their season with a 61-38 loss to Glencoe. In the picture are, from left to right, Taylor Sugg, Colin Noonan, Alyssa Donnell, Colton Walker, Lillia Chance and Bryce Belanger.
The Dalles boys’ basketball team is losing Colin Noonan, Bryce Belanger and Colton Walker to graduation, but the foundation for success is firmly in place for the program.
Under first-year coach Nathan Morris, the Riverhawks won five games, two in league action, and had plenty of games where they were in contention late.
With Dakota Murr, Johnny Miller, William Justesen, Eric Flores and Dominque Seufalemua returning, Murr likes the trajectory this team is taking.
“I think next year we are going to be a lot better,” said Murr, TD’s leading scorer. “I see a bright future ahead. We have guys who can pass, shoot and play defense.”
After Thursday’s season-ending loss to Glencoe, Morris has mapped out a plan to get the team into the postseason mix next season.
It comes down to the old adage of getting bigger, faster and stronger.
“We need to hit the weight room like coach said. And that is going to start tomorrow,” Murr said. “After that, we need to work on our fundamentals, getting easy shots and easy lay-ins and play more team basketball. We need to do a better job of help-side defense and playing with more energy. It is all about defense first before the offense.”
Added to the core of players set to return, Morris and assistant coaches Greg Cummings and Jim Taylor have been active in working with middle school and youth players to help with the acclimation process.
“I like what Morris is doing here. He has a good vision for what he wants,” Belanger said. “It will be up to the players to keep grinding and working to get better. We had five wins and I can honestly say, that’s not good enough. We have talent here to do good things. I hate that I won’t be around to see this team accomplish their goals. It’s going to be good. Just watch.”
In his first year, Morris relied on Taylor and Cummings for tactical advice, and he leaned on Belanger, Walker and Noonan to bring leadership.
“That is a hard thing when you come in as a coach, especially when you have good kids like we had,” Morris said. “Not only good on the basketball court, but just kids that come to practice, give everything they got and play with passion. They were the kids that you wanted on the floor and they were the kids who took charges and did all of those little things. We are going to miss them tremendously and I am going to miss them on a personal level and we are going to miss them as a team.”
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