GREAT FALLS — With the high school winter sports season set to begin, schools are taking to the hardwood. The CMR Rustlers boys basketball team is gearing up for the new slate which tips off next Friday and Saturday.
Head coach John Cislo said the intensity has been high in the limited number of practices thus far.
"Mistakes are there, but it's easier to fix when at least they're working hard. We can stop and kind of talk about it," Cislo said during CMR's practice at the high school Tuesday. "Even though we only return a couple players that got a lot of time last year, it actually feels like an experienced group because a lot of those kids from the JV team last year, we did sprinkle some kids in there."
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As Cislo alluded to, this is a team that lost six seniors from last year. But a handful of the current players just wrapped up with football and are familiar with one another — two of which are Caleb Taylor and Drew Etcheberry.
"Our bond together as a group has been crazy, especially for how young our team is this year," Taylor said. "The juniors have really stepped up and communicated and are going to play a huge part."
"This year, we've been way better at communicating in practice. We're way more focused, and I think the energy around practice is a lot better," Etcheberry said. "We want to get better every single day and we have the same goal at the end of the year to get to."
Taylor and Etcheberry each hold a meaningful title on this team.
"My last year coming out here, getting to be a captain, it's a huge privilege," Taylor said. "That means a lot."
"Super special. I love to be a leader," Etcheberry said. "It's one of my favorite things to do, and to be voted on by my teammates is a really nice honor to have."
The Rustlers just missed out on making it to the state tournament last season, falling in an Eastern AA play-in contest. But Taylor and Etcheberry know what CMR has to do this time around to get over that hump.
"Just focus. I mean, focus day-in and day-out, come to practice ready and be prepared," Taylor said. "Make your layups, hustle down the court, pay attention to when coach is talking. All that little stuff can turn in to something big at the end of the year."
"Work as hard as we can because we know where we want to get to at the end of the year," Etcheberry said. "In order to be able to do that, we have to put in the effort every single day."
CMR tips off its season next Friday and Saturday in Great Falls with games against Kalispell Glacier and Flathead.
