Central Oregonian

Loggers hoping to improve on last year’s promising record

Although there is only one returning starter, the Loggers don’t lack for talent

Lon Austin

December 04, 2012

The Mitchell High School boys basketball team still has a lot of work to do if they hope to have as strong a season as they had last year.

After a slow start, the Loggers finished last year with an 8-11 record. If they hope to improve on that record several newcomers are going to have to step up.

“It’s pretty early, but so far we look OK,” said head coach Cy Miller. “Everyone is competing hard in practice, which is great because we lost a lot to graduation last year, so we are going to have to play a little faster because of our size.”

Sophomore Brett Dominighini is the lone returning starter from last year. However, that doesn’t mean that the Loggers don’t have any talent. Guard, Tony Lindquist, who was the team’s sixth man last year, returns to direct the offense. Dominighini will be joined in the starting lineup by center Sidney Ghelerter, forward Trent Nicol, and guard Tino Espinoza, all who have varsity experience. Jeremy Lanoue, another guard is expected to be the team’s fifth starter. Other players expected to contribute are Pedro Ontiverros and Luis Gonzales.

The remainder of the squad is foreign exchange students who have not played basketball before.

Still, even without size and with limited experience, Miller is confident that the team can be successful.

“We should do fairly well this year in our West half of the High Desert League,” he said. “We will be disappointed if we don’t finish in the top three in our half of the league.”

A top three finish would earn the team a return trip to the district playoffs.

Although the Loggers are eager to start their season they will have to wait a little longer. The team does not start play until this Friday and Saturday, Dec. 7-8 when they play in the North Lake tournament.