A group of young athletes throw on their jerseys, lace up their shoes, and step onto the court with one common goal — to leave a mark. The La Salle boys basketball team is more than just a group of players — they are a “big brotherhood,” junior Aidan Kelly said.
Last year, the boys varsity team went 20-9 overall and finished first in the league with a record of 14-2. After graduating eight seniors, the team has worked to create their own team dynamic this year that will help in leading them to victory. “It’s been difficult, but it’s like we’re building the team management and we’re building all the team leadership [and it’s] getting figured out, so it’s going good,” Kelly said.
What sets this team apart from others is their ability to combine “communication and chemistry together,” senior Milan Skoro said. He shares that being familiar with one another’s style has helped them in game situations. “We all know how we all play, so it definitely helps in the long run,” Skoro said.
“Playing as one is probably the biggest thing we’ve grown on,” Kelly said.
With the team being younger this season, the “older guys, our three seniors being the leaders of the team and pushing the younger guys to do the best they can,” has really helped with the team’s success, Skoro said.
This year, the boys varsity record overall is 10-8 with a league record of 6-3 — their losses coming from Putnam and Wilsonville. The team’s goal is to make it back to the playoffs and win it all this season.
The team has made use of their “unselfish attitudes” by making the extra pass to give an opportunity for a better shot, ultimately highlighting their saying, “look at the person next to you, do it for them, not yourself,” Kelly said.
With practices being run very similarly to a “college practice” Kelly said, the players are constantly running and working to get physical. “We’re just doing game-style play,” Kelly said. “At the end we always come together and the coaches make sure that we come together as a family.”
This season, the team has utilized their different playing style by using their taller players to their advantage. “We’re a much bigger team than most of the teams we play, with me, Milan, and Grant being all over 6-foot-4,” Kelly said. With the height advantage, the team has been working to run the floor and push the ball to move the pace of the game to their tempo.
The build up to big games starts early for the team, as the day before they do a focused walkthrough practice to go over plays and fine-tune things. Some mornings before games, a few of the players get together for a shootaround. Prior to the game, the boys will get together for a team meal in preparation for the game ahead. After, they’ll attend the JV game and utilize halftime for additional shootaround or get their ankles taped.
Skoro shares that a ritual the team does before every big game is to huddle up and say a prayer together to get in the right mindset.
“It really starts with that pregame talk with our coach hyping us up, getting us ready, talking about matchups and all that, and then a big thing for us is when we’re warming up we’re always singing, we’re always dancing, we’re always having a good time,” Kelly said.
As the season began, the coaching staff expanded with former players at La Salle Jake Owens ‘18 and Alex Boyd ‘18. “I’ve learned a lot from my dad’s ex-players, learn what they do because they’ve [come] and watched our games,” Kelly said. Owens is the assistant coach for the JV team and Boyd is the assistant coach for the freshman team, while both also help out with varsity.
Sean Kelly, the head coach of the varsity team, along with the rest of the coaching staff, work to be supportive and strive to give advice to the players on how they can improve. “It’s not just our varsity coach helping us out,” Skoro said. “It’s also our JV and freshman coach talking to us.”
With this being Skoro’s last year with the La Salle boys basketball team, the advice he’d give to any younger player is “be confident in yourself, don’t let yourself down. Just go out there and play your best.”The team’s next league home game will be against Hillsboro High School on Feb. 12 at 7:15 p.m.
