Young Pirates basketball club starts season off strong

The Polson High School boys basketball coach Randy Kelley has modified expectations for his young Pirates basketball team as they prepare to enter the 2017-2018 season.

Kelley, whose team has lost eight of its nine players from last year’s team that finished third in the Montana High School Association state boys championship tournament for the 2016-2017 season, still has expressed a lot of confidence in his young team.

Kelley’s expectations remain high despite his team rebuilding. In spite of rebuilding, Kelley’s Pirates began the season with a 2-1 record but they still have a lot to work on as they approach break after their Dec. 22 game against Browning.

“We have a long way to go but in our season-opening game against Stevi, we kind of learned a lot about our team,” Kelley said. “We still have a lot of learning to do as we move along the season and it is going to take a little bit of time.”

Prior to the break, the Pirates will take on Whitefish, Hamilton, Frenchtown and Browning.

“We’ve got some pretty darn good teams coming in to play us the next couple of weeks,” Kelley said. “The last two games we’ve had 13 kids in both of the games and they are learning. I am happy where we are at (at this point of the season).”

Though Kelley said he is “happy” with his team’s progress he also knows his team has a lot of work to do to improve.

“Defensively, we have a lot of work ahead of us and we’ve improved quite a bit on our defensive philosophy,” Kelley said. “We are getting there but still have a long way to go.”

Kelley said he knows his team will improve as they prepare to dive into the difficult portion of their first half schedule.

“It is a pretty good schedule and I would rather have two games than four going into the break but we’ll get to work on our style of play,” Kelley said. “Right now, defensively we get a little tired. The kids will step up and I know they will play hard. That is all that we can ask of them at this time of year.”

One area of defense Kelley said his team needs to emphasize is their defensive transition. Kelley said he felt they will get tested in the next four match ups before the break.

“We have to get a lot better movement on defense and offense, and we have to get a few more scores and be more consistent with our scoring,” Kelley said. “We have to be more consistent offensively, attack the basket more and get to the free throw line. It’s going to be a challenge (to do that) with the teams coming in.”

In the Pirates first three games against Stevi and the Missoula Tip-Off Classic, they’ve had two seniors that have come up big for them, Kelley said.

“I think our two seniors have really stood out so far as what they’ve done offensively,” Kelley said. “Shade Main is almost averaging a double-double every night for us. We have a few of our younger kids that have to become more consistent for us. I don’t expect consistency) out of the gate. However, by mid to late-January, all of our younger kids need to step up.”

The Pirates will host Whitefish Friday night at Linderman Gym.