“We have an uphill battle with challenging teams ahead, but our kids embrace those challenges. I’m confident we will be a well-rounded team by the end of the season and surprise a few teams,” said Boys Basketball Coach Matt Kaminski. It’s been a tough season for the North Platte Boys Basketball team. The team has come close, but has not been able to get some big wins, but has not been able to pull off. The guys sit at 2-7 on the season, but have losses to Lincoln East (8-1), Omaha South (9-0), and Norfolk (8-1). “I never fault this teams effort, we just have to continue to execute better and make better decisions. As the head coach, I will do my best to help these guys grow in that aspect. This group perseveres as well, or better, than any group I’ve ever coached,” Kamisnki said.
As the season progresses, players are hopeful, sophomore Kade Wroot says, “I think we are going to be the team that will beat some teams that people don’t think we should. The season is going to be a journey and we will have to work hard this season.” The NPHS team does not have a lot of experience, with just six seniors on their 14-man, contrasted by 5 sophomores. “We have a lot of young guys on the team this year, I am one of them, and we are going to need to step up and be quick learners.” As the season unfolds, the team wants to focus on now rather than the future. “You know, I kind of like to go game by game,” Wroot said.
“[Our issues are] just chemistry and patience, we have a mixture of young guys and experienced ones. It’s important for us to learn from our mistakes and trend in a positive direction both individually and as a team,” Kaminski says. Moving forward, the team travels to face Kearney tonight. Kaminski’s philosophy for the rest of the season is, “Keep grinding, work on the small details and fundamentals, and put ourselves in positions to be successful.”
On the girls side, it’s more of the same. The team is experiencing struggles, but look to finish strong. The team has had several close losses, and is just a few made baskets away from having a way better record. It’s been rough because the team has fewer girls than they did last year. “The season could be going better. We need to work on some things and we don’t have the numbers that we would like, so it makes it even harder,” sophomore Thelor Almaguer said. Coming into this stretch of the season, there is hope. They go against Lincoln High (3-6) tomorrow in the Dawg House, and then they get Grand Island (0-9) here next week. “I feel that we are working harder than we were at the beginning [of the season] and we might win some more games now,” Almaguer said.
Almaguer thinks that the way that they bond and the hard work and effort that they’ve put in on the court will pay off later. “Bulldogs at Work, 100%” is a fitting mantra for this team. They work hard all the time and are trying to get better. Almaguer says that the keys to success are, “working hard, working together, and having a good attitude on and off the court.”
Both teams are at Kearney tonight to take on the Bearcats. The Dawgs look to pull the upsets to start a hot streak fresh off of the break.