With the winter sports season underway, the varsity boys basketball program is looking forward to a bright season.

Last year, the boys went 15-11 overall (16th in state) and finished tied for 4th in league with a 9-7 record. The Falcons won their play-in game against Hood River Valley, but fell to the state champions, Silverton High school, in the first round.

The Falcons will be losing 9 seniors, including 4 starters, but are returning junior post Matthew Berger. The team is also returning juniors Christian Reyes, Ange Toku, and seniors Joe Boyd, Jacob Lyver and Andrew Lam. As the only starter returning from last year, Berger led the team in rebounds (7.7 per game), blocks (2.4) and was 2nd in points (11.1).

Along with a lot of change within the players on the team, the Falcons will welcome a new head coach, John Spitulski. Spitulski is not a newcomer to La salle; he is a La Salle alumni and was a part of the 1981 boys State Championship team. John became the girls varsity assistant coach behind our very own Greg Stiff, then became the head coach in 1989. Recently, he served a an assistant for Lewis and Clark College, Lake Oswego High School and the Clackamas Youth Program.

Spitulski has high hopes for the team, and for the players in the program. “My expectations are that each player in the program works hard to improve throughout the season,” he said. Spitulski also believes that every player on the team will contribute in their own way. “Every player on the team will have an important role to help the team be the best we can be.”

With a new coach, there will be a new system through the program. Spitulski says that “the style we play will be uptempo when we have advantages in transition and we will work for a good shot in our half court offense.”

Despite losing a lot of the seniors from last year, Matthew Berger thinks the team will still be very competitive. “We lost 9 seniors… and [that is] a big setback, but we can overcome that and compete,” he said. Berger also added: “Our biggest competition will be Parkrose and Wilsonville. We will prepare for them by doing the right things in practice and buying into the new system.”

Key JV players moving up include juniors Jason Burns and Stew Robertson. “I feel like [we] will do just fine,” said Robertson. “Coach Troy Coady prepared us very well for the varsity level the last two years.”

The boys start the season at home Thursday, December 3rd at 7pm against the Gladstone Gladiators. Come out and support the Falcons!