New Chiefs basketball coach readys for Big Timber

RONAN — Ronan High School coach Mitchell Wassam is in his first year as a head coach of the Chiefs’ basketball program and already is in the process of changing the culture of Ronan basketball.

Wassam, a native from Columbia Falls and former assistant coach at Montana Western’s women’s basketball team, said he is ready to make an impact on Chiefs’ basketball. Last season, Ronan finished fifth out of sixth and with a 7-13 record.

“I am back home from Columbia Falls and this group of kids is ready,” Wassam said. “They are buying into the new culture and philosophy. I am excited and so are the kids. We think we have a lot of talent and we are ready to make a big push in the district.”

Wassam expressed confidence in his team’s ability, and in the team’s first game against Eureka, his confidence was validated with a 52-38 victory over Eureka.

Wassam said several of his team members, who were also members of the Ronan football team that lost the quarterfinals 40-26 against Whitehall, took solace in defeating the Class-B football champions.

“Our football team was pretty happy about being able to defeat Eureka,” Wassam admitted. “After the loss to Whitehall, it was nice to have a connection with those kids. They were fired up about playing Eureka.”

The Chiefs were led by Zeke Misa. Misa dropped 15 points and Perry Panzetanga finished the night in double figures with 11.

Junior guard Zeke Misa and his brother senior forward Aaron are the Chiefs’ two returning All-Conference players. The tandem led a team that Wassam boasts is “12 players deep.”

“Having that kind of depth makes it easy for us to be able to find someone that can come off the bench (and contribute),” Wassam said. “We had one kid come off the bench, and take charge and have a fast-break layup. It is good for us to plug in and play. We will play the five players that are playing the best, and that is what we will do.”

Wassam expressed a lot of confidence in his Chiefs’ team this year.

“They are a very talented group and we played 11 kids in our game against Eureka,” Wassam said. “Aaron didn’t even travel because he was sick and we still played 12. We want to push the tempo, control the tempo, and play fast. That is when we feel that we can grind it out and play some pressure defense. Having 12 kids on our team makes it nice.”

This weekend, the Chiefs will play in their first tournament of the season in Three Forks in a two-game tournament.

Ronan will play Big Timber Friday at 2:30 at Three Fork’s High School’s gymnasium, and then they will play Jefferson at 2:30 p.m. Saturday at Three Fork’s High School’s gymnasium.

“It’s a really good turnout down there and we will get to also see teams such as Boulder, Big Timber, Fairfield,” Wassam said. “We will have a chance to scout Anaconda, a team that we play twice this season. It is huge to be able to see how the south plays. It is really big for us because if we are fortunate to get out of divisionals, then we are looking right away at a measuring stick. Our team will be able to play those guys earlier in the season and see the different brands of basketball from each of the conferences.”

Wassam said he expects a quality opponent in Big Timber.

“Big Timber has been there and they are very well-coached,” Wassam said. Even though they lost a lot from last year, from reading their previews, it looks like they have some kids with some quality minutes. One of their sophomore kids is one of their leading scorers. They are physical, they play hard and we have to match that intensity. Their coach has been there a while and has them trained up to do what he wants them to do.”

Another team from the Class B South Ronan will gain exposure to is Jefferson.

“They are also very talented and they lost a lot from their team last year that placed in the state,” Wassam said. “I believe they placed fourth in the state last year. They have one senior and they have some size with five or six kids over the 6-foot mark. Their coach is also the football coach and he has that mindset built from football to be physical, play tough and force you to turn the ball over, and dictate the tempo. These two (Southern) teams are very physical and they pride themselves in playing well on defense.”