Pine City Boys Basketball looks to strong senior leadership

 Pine City Boys Basketball looks to strong senior leadership

By Heidi Burger Pine City Pioneer

The basketball season for the boys at Pine City high school began with two-a-day practices.   Coach Kyle Allen is in his 12th year of coaching varsity at PCHS. He is assisted by Dylan Kringstad (JV), Wayne Hansmann (C-Squad), Brittany Lakeberg (8t grade), Ben Bloomquist (7th grade), Jason Rademacher (Varsity Assistant), and Jason Wiener (Volunteer Assistant).

The athletes came ready to work hard and improve their game. Coach Allen commented on practices so far, “We spent the first few practices doing our ‘tryouts.’ Everyone makes a team, but we utilize many drills to rank our players. This allows us to put players on a team that will allow them to grow into our system and program. We really start the year off slow and work on our basic and fundamental drills and skills. These are the same drills we are running with our elementary and junior high programs. We believe in going slow to go fast; we need to create a foundation that we can build off of as the season progresses. We want to play our best basketball at the end of the season and we feel this gives us that chance to grow into that.”

Allen continues to have the same goals for this season as before – 20 plus wins, conference champions, earn a home playoff game, and get a chance to make a run in sections. Last season, their record was 18-9, and the coaches and team are looking for a new start this season. 

The senior boys this season are looking strong, all seven of them. Allen is looking forward to the skills and talents each of these seniors will provide. He said this about each of them. 

“Luke Wilson will be the leader of this team and the program this year. He has been trained for this. I expect him to be one of the best players on the floor in every game we play this season,” noted Allen. “Lamont Sydney may very well be the most athletic player I have had in my tenure.  He will have the opportunity to really grow his game this year and become a great player for us. Mason Charles will come into his senior year with a good amount of experience over the last few seasons. He will be elite on the defensive end, and I expect him to take some major strides on the offensive end. Riley Cummings athleticism and size are amazing. He is going to dominate on the boards and on defense and take a huge step on the offensive end. Isaiah Hasz is a great athlete who can do a lot of good things on the court on both ends. We expect him to help us spread the floor as a shooter and guard across the board on the other end. Nick Plasek is a great energizer and athlete. We are expecting him to expand his role and utilize his strength and athleticism on the defensive end and on the boards. And Ashton Seals is another good athlete for us. Ashton will be asked to fill in several roles from a ball handler, to tandem, to shooter.”  

The boys will host their first home game on December 9 against the East Central Eagles at 7 p.m. It looks to be a good season.