Senior Kade Strutz (33) sinks one for the Pioneers during Saturday nights game against Fort Benton
Freshman, Lane Demontiney (3) bringing the ball down the court.
In a sense, Big Sandy boys' basketball is picking up just where it left off.
The Pioneers faced Fort Benton with a divisional title and state playoff berth on the line in their penultimate game of 2020, so why not start off with the Longhorns to tip off 2021?
Unfortunately, the season opener Saturday in the Pioneers' home gym ended with Big Sandy on the wrong end of the final score again. The Longhorns were the only District 9C foe the Pioneers never solved last season and they found them just as challenging to begin this one.
Big Sandy fell 79-33 in a contest against a likely state championship contender after starting three freshmen and an eighth grader alongside lone senior Kade Strutz.
Given the circumstances, Pioneers coach Thomas Dilworth saw plenty of upside in the season premiere.
"I've never felt so good about a defeat," Dilworth said. "We're probably looking at potential state champions. We're (playing) four freshmen and an eighth grader (at times)."
Dilworth said the third quarter, in which the Pioneers were outscored just 19-13, demonstrated an ability to compete with the league's best even shorthanded. Any areas in need of improvement could not be papered over as preseason non-conference games might allow in a non-pandemic year. The Pioneers open this season with two top District 9C rivals in their first three contests.
"We know everything we've got to fix," he said. "We know how hard we've got to work now ... (and) we've got Chinook next week."
Freshman Lane Demontiney led the Pioneers with 19 points in the opener after having a limited varsity role in 2020.
"He's a workhorse. He's relentless," Dilworth said. "That (performance is) a result of hard work."
"It's hard being a young player. I think going into this year that we're going to develop a lot as a team," Demontiney said. "We didn't have our whole team (eligible) tonight ... (but) getting the tough games out of the way first helps us get better."
Fellow frosh Cooper Taylor added the season's first two field goals after Strutz's pair of free throws broke a scoring trough of 3 minutes, 39 seconds to open the game. Fort Benton staked out a 12-0 lead to begin the contest. Taylor swiped a steal in the backcourt and turned to hit a jumper for the first deuce, then nailed a baseline jumper after Demontiney added 1 from the line. A corner three from Demontiney and a 17-footer Jake Darlington coolly sank added to the Pioneers' halftime tally.
Demontiney drained a corner trey to open things up for Big Sandy in the second half.
The aforementioned third period included a pair of sequences in which the Pioneers posted unanswered scoring possessions thanks to the freshman. Demontiney hit another three-pointer after taking his lunch pail to work for three points the old-fashioned way, making good at the foul line after a contested bucket underneath. That completed a 6-0 run that made it 53-22. His steal that led to an easy layup and a put-back on the offensive glass in the last minute of the period provided the other.
Another freshman, Eli Dixon, got his first varsity bucket on a drive to the rack early in the fourth quarter. Eighth grader Ryder Galbavy added his own to cap the Pioneers' scoring.
Hayden Diekhans led the Longhorns with 19 points and Cody Evans added 14.
Dilworth said he expects Fort Benton; Chinook led by 6-8 post Reese Elliott, a commit to the MSU Northern football program and talented guard Ethan Bell; as well as uptempo Box Elder to be in the mix for the district crown. The Pioneers are working out how to replace the graduated production of Ryan Roth, Clint Darlington and Brock Proulx as well as senior Parker Proulx, lost in the football postseason to a knee injury. They made an underdog run to divisionals last year and Dilworth said the young crew is motivated to help Strutz get back there again in his last year.
"You've just got to play three good games at the right time," the coach said.
He said the team's focus has been on conditioning, ball handling and basic fundamentals in preseason workouts. Now they shift to better understanding the Pioneers' offensive and defensive structure.
"You're going to see a lot of improvement running the system," he said. "I'm excited for the future of Pioneer basketball. I watch them and I get goosebumps."
