Reporter for The Canyon Weekly
It has been so long since Scio boys basketball has made the playoffs that, well, let’s have second-year coach Nathan McIntryre tell the story.
‘We sat down this year as a team and discussed our goals both individually and as a team,” McIntyre said. “Their goal, which it should be, is to finally break through and secure a spot in the state tournament. I haven’t been around long enough to know when the last time Scio actually went to the state playoffs so that should tell you it’s been a while.”
Yes, it has been awhile. Near as I can tell from my research, the Logger boys NEVER have been to the state playoffs.
The 2023-24 season, however, is showing strong promise. McIntyre’s squad is 7-4 overall and 1-0 in the PacWest Conference after opening the league season Tuesday night with a 55-50 victory at Jefferson. Scio is ranked No. 16 in Class 3A.
Scio has just one returning starter, senior Braeden McIntyre, who now has different responsibilities.
“Braeden is learning how to adapt to his new team and is just now starting to figure out his role,” coach McIntyre told The Canyon Weekly. “For the past three years he has predominantly played the point guard but with the talent around him we decided to move him out of this role. He has taken on additional skills where we as a team lacked. We have a total of four seniors but for most of them this is the first year they have seen much court time during a varsity contest.”
The other three seniors are Parker Ziebert, Kyle Ennis and Hunter Wiens.
“Ziebert is contributing significant minutes for us this year,” McIntyre said. “Parker put in a lot of time during the off season to prepare for his final high school season. He has learned how to play at the varsity level this year and is showing more consistency on the court.”
McIntyre also is looking for big things from junior transfer Hunter Courtney.
“He has been a welcome addition to the team and provides a spark,” the coach said. “I have been impressed with how well he has adapted to our team. I feel Hunter has been able to come in and learn quickly which has allowed us to insert him into the starting line up.”
Overall, McIntyre said, “it has taken us a while to really start to figure out how to play with each other and you can see that in our preseason record. One thing of note is that if you look at all the games that we have played you will see that we have been competitive in every contest. The boys have never quit and I see that competitiveness continuing during league play this year.
“We are still working on understanding each other on the basketball court. Once they figure out that each one of them has something special to contribute, who knows how far they can go.”
Dayton, 7-6 overall and 1-0 in league, is the highest ranked PacWest team at No. 9. Amity (5-6, 0-0) is ranked 12th.
“As of right now it is so hard to get a good read on who will come out on top,” McIntyre said. “We each play varying preseason schedules and opponents. Three teams will come out and represent our league in the playoffs when it’s all done. You have to respect what Dayton has done previously and the coach up there always has his boys ready to go. Taft seems to have a strong squad this year as well. Since the beginning of the season I ask the team everyday, why not us? Why can we not compete for one of the three automatic bids? I think we can and here in the next few weeks we will find out where we stand compared to those goals.”
Scio visits Amity on Friday, Jan. 5, with the first of the Loggers’ pair of contests with Dayton set for next Saturday, Jan. 13, at the Pirates’ gym. Dayton was the lone PacWest participant in the Class 3A tournament, where the Pirates went 0-2, falling to eventual champion Cascade Christian in the quarterfinals and eventual fourth-place finisher Creswell. Amity and Santiam Christian lost in the first round of the playoffs, one win short of state.
McIntyre says he has strong backing from the Scio community.
“We are starting to do things the right way. Our parents support us and are helping us change what Scio basketball was to what it can be,” he said. “It is because of them that we are starting to gain some traction within the program and community. Our goal as coaches and parents is to change the narrative. It starts by building a program the community can be proud of. As coaches we are doing just that and I think you will continue to see us grow as a program.”
