The Dalles basketball players, pictured from left to right, Dawson Hoffman, Dalles Seufalemua and Josh Nisbet, take part in a scrimmage during practice Tuesday at Kurtz Gym. With a roster comprised of guards and wing players, the Hawks plan to use speed and aggressiveness to post some more wins under second-year coach Nathan Morris.
The Dalles basketball players, pictured from left to right, Dawson Hoffman, Dalles Seufalemua and Josh Nisbet, take part in a scrimmage during practice Tuesday at Kurtz Gym. With a roster comprised of guards and wing players, the Hawks plan to use speed and aggressiveness to post some more wins under second-year coach Nathan Morris.
With one year under the tutelage of head coach Nathan Morris, The Dalles boys’ basketball team can use what they learned last year and build on it for the 2016-17 winter season.
The team will be without graduated seniors Colton Walker, Bryce Belanger and Colin Noonan, but first-team all-league wing Dakota Murr is back for his junior campaign, and Eric Flores, Johnny Miller, Oscar Fernandez, Dawson Hoffman and Dominique Seufalemua add experience and skills to the mix for the Riverhawks.
“I feel like having coach back here makes it a lot better because we have most of our starting five back from last year and I feel like the game is a little easier for us,” Flores said. “We can add to the offenses that we run and we are all on the same page with what coach wants us to do. Altogether, we are working as a group with one goal in mind.”
That goal is to score more points, but also creating fast break opportunities with a speedy trapping style of defense to get steals and force turnovers.
Last year, the Hawks gave up an average of 75.7 points a game, including 83 or more seven times.
“On defense, we’ve got to work harder, just push them, trap them and make them do what we want them to do,” said junior wing player Javier Hernandez. “We have to dictate the pace of the game and get them uncomfortable with our defense. We are probably going to trap a lot in the full court and half court, so we can get a steal or force a bad pass and we can get transition points on offense.”
Murr averaged 20.4 points, 5.6 rebounds, and 2.4 assists per game as a sophomore and he did this while shooting 41.5 percent from the three-point line, and 86.6 percent from the free throw line.
Along with returners Flores, Miller, Fernandez, Hoffman and Seufalemua, Morris is hoping for added scoring punch from Josh Nisbet, Jack Bonham, Jacob Hernandez, Javier Hernandez and freshman post Dalles Seufalemua.
The Dalles scored 52.3 points a game last season, nearly a 10-point improvement from the 2014-15 campaign, and with the added depth, those numbers could see a dramatic uptick as the season goes on.
“I think we have five guys, seven deep, that we can put on the floor who can shoot the rock,” Morris said. “That allows us to get spacing and guys are able to penetrate and dish out and create opportunities. You have to guard all five guys on the floor. Last year, we had three guys, maybe two, that could shoot the rock. I really think that we are going to have five on the floor at a time that will put a lot of pressure on the defense.”
On a roster that features four seniors, two juniors and five underclassmen, Miller wants to do his best to display a tireless work ethic, offer words of encouragement and pay close attention to detail as a show of leadership amongst the less experienced players on the roster.
“As one of the seniors, it is important to go out every day and do what I am supposed to do,” Miller said. “I need to work hard and set a good example so that they can learn from that. Hopefully, they can do it themselves in the future and help this team get some more wins.”
The Dalles posted wins over Woodburn, Mac-Hi, Redmond, Hood River Valley and Hermiston on its way to a 5-19 overall record last season and added a 2-7 mark in league action, finishing one game behind Hood River Valley for the third postseason spot.
Through a few weeks of practice time, Flores is impressed by what he has seen so far, so sneaking into the playoff mix is an attainable goal.
“Honestly, I feel like we can compete with anyone at this point,” Flores said. “I feel like every game is a win for us as long as we go out and execute the game plan, and put out the effort and hard work. I feel like we are up there with the best of them.”
Through the first month of the season, the Hawks play five of their first seven games on the road and head to Astoria for a three-day tournament starting on Dec. 27.
TD’s only home games during that opening stretch are on Dec. 9 against Sisters and Dec. 16 versus St. Helens.
Columbia River Conference action starts on Jan. 20 at home against Hermiston.
With a young team that is smaller in height, Javier Hernandez still sees the potential.
It is also an opportunity to show some other schools that The Dalles has the athletes that will give it everything they have on a nightly basis.
“It is really cool that everyone might be overlooking us,” Javier Hernandez said. “They might not expect that we will be able to compete, so if we go out and show them that, we can surprise some teams. We just have to come out strong from the start of the game and prove that we can play with anybody.”
The Dalles is in action at 7:15 p.m. tonight in a road tilt opposite 6A Glencoe.
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