Prep basketball: Young Rams to feature up-tempo attack

TALKEETNA — With only one senior and three juniors, Susitna Valley boys basketball head coach Mike Matthews is leading a young team into the 2007-08 campaign, but his athletes have the opportunity to learn some new things at Su Valley High.

“We’ve got some new offenses the kids have never seen before,” Matthews said Saturday after his squad’s 57-32 win over the Anderson Grizzlies. “They don’t have a lot of experience, but the kids have been working hard.”

Matthews has spent the early portion of the season introducing some new ways his guard-heavy squad can run the ball down the floor.

“We’ve got a long way to go, but the kids have been working really hard and running kind of an up-tempo game,” Matthews said. “And that’s what I want them to do.”

Key to Su Valley’s fast-paced attack will be a pair of guards, junior Marc Bartel and sophomore Paxson Matthews.

Bartel, the Rams unquestioned leader, will run the point, while Paxson Matthews will play more at the off-guard position, the Su Valley head coach said. But the good thing about the two, Mike Matthews said, is Bartel and Paxson Matthews are fairly interchangeable at the guard positions.

Su Valley’s leader inside is Grant Hicks, a 6-foot-4 senior post. Mike Matthews said Hicks’ skills have greatly improved, most notably his hands.

The Rams also have 6-6 junior Levi Smith, who will also provide great size inside.

Among the younger players Matthews is excited about are sophomore forward Skyler Hamler and freshman guard Dylan Figley.

Due to the devastating 2007 fire that burned Susitna Valley Junior/Senior High School to the ground, the Rams have been playing this season without a home.

The Rams hosted Anderson in one of their five designated home games at Houston Middle School on Saturday, and 18 of their 23 games this season will be played on the road.

The schedule features an assortment of tournaments in Healy, Cordova, Tok and Anchorage.

With no high school gym to practice in, the Rams have had to settle for using the two elementary schools in the Talkeetna area. Matthews said the biggest use there is the transition from the small elementary court to the bigger floor of the high school gyms.

Contact Frontiersman sports editor Jeremiah Bartz at sports@frontiersman.com.