ETV News Stock Photo by Jeff Barrett
The biggest change to Pinnacle’s basketball program this year is its intentional reduction of players. The Panthers will only be keeping 15 players to fill their three teams (freshman/sophomore, JV and varsity) instead of 25. The purpose of this change is to focus on a smaller number of athletes and give them more experience for growth. Head coach Eric Hansen said, “[as a result], the underclassman will be playing a lot of basketball.”
The Panthers will be welcoming two players that attended Lighthouse High before the school closed its door to join a number of starters from last year’s crew. Senior Ben Scott will look to lead the team through example. “He’s a great leader on the court and plays like a seven-footer by the way he plays and the effort he gives,” said Hansen.
Speaking of size, Pinnacle will have a bigger team this year. There are three players around 6’3″ and all of them can run; in fact, they all ran cross country in the fall. Coach Hansen intends to use this to his advantage by implementing a fast-break offense to force the opposition to put smaller guys on his big men. When that happens, the Panthers can slow it down and feed the post.
Defensively, Pinnacle aims to be aggressive and show different looks, such as press, 2-2-1, 3-2 and 1-3-1 zones. The Panthers hope that their high intensity defense can not only stifle the competition but lead to easy scores.
After a good summer that saw the Panthers take down both Carbon’s and Emery’s JV teams, Pinnacle is looking to build on that momentum. “I’m optimistic for the year. We have one of the deepest benches I’ve had here,” said Hansen. “Green River is the team to beat [in our region], but our goal is to finish in the top two.”