Roster set for basketball

Times Reporter   

 

With the team named and practices beginning last week, coach Ken Smith and the varsity boys basketball team at Strathmore High School (SHS) are eager to start their season. SHS’s first exhibition tournament is at Bearspaw Christian School on Dec. 6.

“I’m brand new to the town and the school, so to be honest, I’m still getting to know the boys,” Smith said, who previously coached the Red Deer College Kings team for two years. “But it’s a good mix of young and older players. There’s a core group that were on the team last year.”

The SHS Spartans went 2-5 last year, and finished the season with a -101 point differential. In the Division 2 semi-finals last year, they fell to the Oilfields Drillers. 

Smith plans to dress 12 players for the first tournament, but has a few more on his roster.

“I have about 14 but one boy is injured now from football,” he said. “We’re kind of checking everything out.”

The varsity team will be focusing mainly on defense this season, after having an average of 67 points scored against them in 2012’s games.

“Our motto is going to be defense and layups,” Smith said. “The bulk of our attention will be playing defensively, controlling the game, and rebounding. We want to play hard for 24 seconds of defense.”

The boys and girls varsity teams will have their home and season opener on Dec. 11 against the Holy Trinity Academy Knights – a team that has won Division 1 silver every year since 2011.