Young Eagles Make Up For Lack Of Experience
West Valley’s boys basketball team is so young that it has posed a surprising dilemma for the coaching staff.
“The biggest difficulty has been getting rides for everybody when we do team functions,” said coach Joe Feist. “Not many have driver’s licenses. We have to shove people into coach (Jamie) Nilles’s Volkswagen.”
The good thing, he said, is that his young players are so small, they fit comfortably in the tiny car.
He may exaggerate a bit on size, but the truth is that this is the first time in Feist’s 11-year coaching career that he has not had any senior veterans to stabilize his team. Or any substantial varsity experience at all.
Instead, the Eagles are a team of juniors and sophomores who saw limited varsity time or came up from last year’s junior varsity. He’s even dug into the C squad ranks for a pivotal addition.
Yet on Tuesday the 10-9 Eagles upset Cheney 66-62 for its biggest win of the season to date. Three weeks earlier, the Blackhawks had won by 17 points.
“The first time we played Cheney we came out scared. We knew they were really athletic,” said junior Chris Gregg, one of the many newcomers on WV’s team. “We sat down before the second game and said we had to take the game out of Cheney’s hands.”
The 6-foot-4 Gregg, who moved here from Oregon the summer before his sophomore year, is one of several players who are growing into the Eagle system.
He worked his way from 12th man to starter following early season disciplinary action. He’s been in double figures eight times this year, including back-to-back 16-point games last Friday and Tuesday.
“I’ll tell you who really played was Ryan Browning,” said Feist. “He hit two huge 3-point baskets and rebounded well.”
Browning came from nowhere this season after playing C squad, the school’s third team, last season.
“I got mad, worked hard during the summer and got a spot,” he said.
Such success stories have been common for the Eagles this year. Juniors Brad Groh and Eric Deno scored fewer than 80 points between them in limited varsity appearances last season.
This year Groh is the Border League’s thirdleading scorer at 16.7 points per game with a high game of 32. Deno is averaging 11.4 per game, including Tuesday’s 26-point outburst against Cheney.
“Eric is getting his points without forcing up shots,” said Feist.
Junior Ryan Spivey has become a regular inside and sophomore Kris Sly is WV’s point guard. Another sophomore, John Focht, has of late worked his way into the lineup after starting the season on junior varsity.
Yet there the Eagles were on Tuesday, beating a team that finished second in state last year and which is favored to make a repeat appearance in next month’s 3A event.
“We played really hard and really well,” said Feist. “And we caught a few breaks.”
Not the least was hitting 20 for 22 free throws, some of which helped offset a three-point Cheney lead with 52 seconds remaining.
“I think when we started we felt this was a warm-up year,” said Gregg. “Now we feel we can play with the best in league, especially after Tuesday.”
Feist is simply enjoying the moment, saying it’s been a successful season regardless of what happens from now on.
“If we win our last game,” he said prior to Friday night’s encounter in Clarkston, “We’ll be 11-9 overall, 9-7 in league and will have beaten everyone except Coeur d’Alene at least once. That’s pretty good in a tough league.”
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