BROADVIEW — The Broadview-Lavina boys basketball team is on the rise.
The Pirates went 0-2 at the Southern C divisional tournament last year, but that only proved to be fuel to the fire for a hungry group.
“It was pretty amazing since we were sophomores last year. That’s just a great thing to go to as a sophomore because we’re going to keep building on it every single year," junior forward Will Sanguins said. "I’m excited this year because we have a better chance at going to divisionals, doing something and making some noise.”
“Coming into the summer we thought about that a lot. Going into our first football game we had that on our minds, but this summer we got together a lot. We had a bunch of open gyms, probably three a week at least, got into a bunch of scrimmages and summer tournaments and it helped us grow together as a team," said junior forward Kade Erickson.
The Pirates have a ton of experience, but they’re still relatively young, boasting just three seniors. The juniors and seniors have been playing significant minutes since their freshman year, and it’s starting to pay dividends.
“We’re a long ways ahead of where we were last year at this point, certainly. But obviously it’s absolutely critical that we continue to take steps - every weekend of the season that we continue to take steps forward so that we’re playing the best basketball that we possibly can at the right time of the year," Broadview-Lavina head coach Scott Severance said.
Severance has put the trust of the offense in freshman point guard Connor Glennie, who wound up starting last season as an eighth grader. Glennie’s continued improvement will be key for the Pirates to put together a deep postseason run.
“I see a tremendous amount of advancement and growth in our young kids, our eighth graders that are now freshman," Severance said. "The game doesn’t really change, you just become more proficient at playing the game. He’s just got to do the things he did last year better and more consistently. That’s across the board, every kid in our program. If we get better and what we’re going to do we’re going to see better results, too.”
The Pirates get their season started on Friday, Dec. 10 against Custer-Hysham in the Broadview-Lavina tipoff tournament.
