San Juan High School boys basketball team looks to take the next step in 2020-21 season

It’s not unusual in high school sports for a team to lose all its starters to graduation one year and face a rebuilding season the next. That’s precisely the situation the San Juan High School boys basketball team finds themselves in this year.

A brand new group of Broncos will hit the court when the team begins the 2020-21 season this Friday, December 4 at the Central Utah Preview in Richfield.

Senior Nate Grover has the most varsity experience coming into the year and, according to third-year head coach Travis Black, he will be expected to anchor the Broncos from the middle of the court.

Black said Grover is a strong rebounder, post player, and shot contester. He contributed 128 points in 20 games last season and his 69 percent field goal shooting was third-best on the team.

Junior Cooper Black scored 50 points in 17 games for San Juan in 2019-20 and will run the point this season. Juniors Jensen Grover and Ladd Ivins contributed 48 points and 34 points last year respectively.

Junior Jace Palmer scored nine points, senior Easton Bethea got six, and juniors Bronson Snyder and Jayden Black added four and two respectively, all in limited action in 2019-20.

Juniors Preston Imlay and Cadin McPherson are new additions to the varsity roster this season.

“These kids have been playing together since third grade and have a lot of game experience,” said Black. “That gives you an edge the more games your kids have played in.”

The game experience has helped the players build a good amount of basketball IQ and gel as a team in a way practice doesn’t allow.

According to Black, some of the biggest strengths of the new group of Broncos is that they love to play defense, rebound, and they are very unselfish.

He emphasized that he wants his team to play disciplined defense. “The biggest thing we need to work on is not helping on defense when we don’t need to,” he explained.

It means players must trust their teammates to cover their positions and stay at home on defense during games. “Sometimes overaggressiveness can hurt us,” Black detailed.

Though the 2020-21 San Juan players are defense-minded, don’t expect them to sit back. According to Coach Black they will definitely push the ball and score some points.

They will need lots of offensive production against a tough field of 3A teams, including the defending champion and number-one-ranked Manti Templars, Juab Wasps, Grantsville Cowboys, and Uintah Utes.

American Heritage plays in the 2A ranks, but they are expected to have a strong team also. San Juan will face all of those teams in the first month of the season.

“This is probably one of the toughest preseason schedules we’ve had,” Black pointed out. “It will give us some good early games and help us see where we are.”

San Juan is expected to be the team to beat in Region 12 so they understand they’ll have a target on their chests all season.

“I feel like we have as good a chance to make a deep run [in the state tournament] as we’ve had any year,” Black stated. “The goal is to compete, get to state, make some noise, and advance farther than we did last year.”

San Juan players and coaches are all excited to get the year underway and are keeping their fingers crossed that they’ll be able to complete a full season.

The Broncos would already have a couple games under their belts, but due to a delay to the start of the year due to COVID-19 the Central Utah Preview this weekend will be a trial by fire under the bright lights of a large basketball arena.

They’ll open the season against North Summit Friday, December 4 at 2:30 p.m., then face the defending champion Templars at 3 p.m. on Saturday at the Sevier Valley Center.

You can hear both games live on Redrock 92.7 FM as part of a weekend of basketball that will feature both active San Juan County boys teams, San Juan and Monticello.

Fear surrounding COVID-19 continues to produce challenges in the world of high school sports. There will be significant restrictions on the number of spectators allowed at events in 2020-21. In some cases no spectators will be permitted at all.

Redrock 92 plans to broadcast as many San Juan and Monticello boys and girls basketball games as possible throughout the season. Stay tuned to 92.7 FM and the San Juan Record for updates.

San Juan Record

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