OCR Text |
Show sift to 0 By Amy Young Production Manager On Friday November 10, Payne Gymnasium will take on a whole new personality. Forget everything that has happened in Payne thus far. Now envision bleachers full of students, faculty, friends, and family of the 16 athletes on the Griffins Basketball Team. The men's basketball team will make their second season a reality after a 20 year absence. The Westminster Griffins will host the Homestead Village Tournament on November 10 and 11. On that same night, the women's basketball team faces Weber State in an exhibition game. Westminster is small and personal. In fact, this is one of the main reasons students choose to further their education here. Westminster is an intimate campus. Sitting in the bleachers at the Huntsman Center isn't going to make you feel as though you are actually involved in a basketball game. Payne Gym is small and personal. It reflects the student sentiment that bigger t isn't better. Students can attend a game, yell for their friends on the team and make an impact. The best part is the team will hear the words of encouragement from their supporters and play harder because of it. Men's Head Coach Tommy Connor is enthusiastic to start his second season at Westminster. Connor is eager to pass on his excitement to the rest of the college too. "If we could really get the commitment from the students this year, they are going to see a high level game of basketball," said Connor. He continued, "They are going to see some really talented players, and I think it's going to be a very enjoyable environment." Six players returned after the 12-1- 5 debut season by the men's basketball team. Mitch Montgomery is the main impact player returning. In the Griffins' first season, Montgomery was a National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics Honorable Mention, first team all- - league player, and leading scorer for the college. Montgomery averaged 16. 8 pts per game, .456 from the field and shot .833 from the line. All-Americ- an, Other players returning with Montgomery include Josh Davis, Charlie Iorg, Enoch Dahl, Micah Peterson and Brad Bentley. The main enhancement the team has made since last season simply takes the form of having a second year program and recruiting some better players. "We have improved the talent level of the team with the good players we have returning and the good players we have added," said Connor. "We are going to be a better team." Connor recruited five transfer players in the offseason to represent the Griffins: Todd Christensen and David Nielsen from Brigham Young University, Brad Willden and Matt Sparrow from Utah State University, and Corey Carlston from Snow College. High school recruits include Ben Rajamaki from Park City High School, Nick Buroker from Riverton High School, Tommy Jensen from Davis High School, Isaac Bulter from Grantsville High School and Mark Mawhinney from Brighton High School. Besides developing the talent on the team, Connor said improvements need to be made in the approach the team uses at away games. During their first season, the Griffins had troubles capturing wins on the road, and ended with a record of 9 away from Payne Gym. Compare this with their 3 record at home. "We definitely need to improve with a mental approach on the road," said Connor. 1-- 7-- Connor also said changes have been made to their style of play. "We'll be much more up tempo, more fast break basketball, much more aggressive defensively, and we'll be a more physical team than last year," Connor said. With the many renovations made by Connor and the team, expectations are high. "I'm expecting us by the time league play rolls around, to be competitive enough to be one of the top three teams in the league," said Connor. Transfer student Matt Sparrow joined the Griffins after playing basketball and football at Weber State and at USU. The most important reason Sparrow joined the Griffins was to play basketball. But he also felt academics at the college would be outstanding. Sparrow is a sophomore majoring in business. Another factor influencing Sparrow's decision were the players on the team. He played with Montgomery at Weber High School, and had heard the . group of players already committed to attending Westminster were a great group of guys. On the outlook of the team. Sparrow said, "There are teams in the league that will be good, they will be a good challange, and we'll have to work really hard to win. But I believe with the work ethic we have we can win. Our goal is to win the conference." According to Sparrow, one of the major improvements the team has made is in its defense. Connor focuses on a "help defense" which is a different concept to many of the players. Sparrow describes this new philosophy as, "We pressure the ball, so when a man gets beat on the dribble, we have help coming from other players. And that's something that I'm not used to playing. It's always been a one on one game with the teams I've played with." Speaking with Sparrow, his respect for Coach Connor is evident. "Coach Connor is a tough coach. I like how straight forward he is. Sometimes he's brutally honest which hurts sometimes," said Sparrow. He continues, "I think he's got a good relationship with his players. We can all have a sense of humor together and have a little fun together. Whereas I've had coaches in the past that didn't relate to you in that way. Which is one of the great things about Coach Connor." While the men's team hosts Western Montana, Albertson, and Point Loma Nazarene in the Homestead Village Tournament, the women's team faces Weber State in an exhibition game in Ogden. Like the men's team, the season looks bright for the women. After a rocky first season with several uncertainties, the women's team has landed a permanent head coach. Daron Park, previously assistant coach for the men's basketball team, stepped up to take on the task of improving the second season for the women's basketball team. "As long as we really come out and represent the school well and play hard, we are going to be just fine," said Park. From last season. Park returned six players. Leading scorer Shari Kelsch averaged 12.8 pts per game and returns for the Griffins second season. Kelsch is joined by returning players Angie Bonham, Dana Continued on next page |