GREAT FALLS — The Great Falls CMR boys basketball team went 12-6 in the regular season last year but graduated a big senior class.
CMR brings back two lettermen, seniors Keegan Barnes and Bryce Nelson, but head coach John Cislo was impressed with last year’s junior varsity and sophomore teams and doesn’t expect much of a drop-off.
"I think our JV team had a pretty good year last year and our sophs had a good year, so hopefully they can just step right in and play," Cislo said.
Cislo says much of this squad’s success will come through its defense.
"Hopefully our kids understand how hard you got to play to win games in our league," Cislo said. "And we want to be a physical team on defense and be able to play multiple defenses, mix it up a little bit, and depending on our defense to win games."
Barnes agreed, noting his team won a few games last season purely on effort.
"We're not always the biggest team out there and stuff, but we just want to play hard and want to get the job done by putting all the effort we can," Barnes said. "We won last year quite a few times. And I think that we know how that feeling is to get it done. And I think we can just get that motivation to get it done."
