Havre boys’ basketball is ready to start its 2024-25 season after having a handful of official practices in late November. New Media Broadcasters talked to head coach Walynn Burgess and he shared what he likes about his returners and how some of them have been elevated to more expansive roles from offseason workouts.
“It’s nice to have those returners,” Burgess said. “The Tre Gary’s, the Matt Huse’s, Brayden Ereaux’s, the Kash Keller’s, the ones that have been playing a lot of varsity minutes to get back in and hold our standard to where it was at and how hard we need to practice day in and day out.”
“It’s been nice to see kids step up in different roles than what they were in last year,” Burgess continued.
The Ponies will travel the five hours to Miles City to face Custer County, a team that they swept by a combined 60 points in conference play a season ago. Burgess said what it will take for his team to be successful right out of the gate.
“It’s early season basketball. It’s going to look ugly at times. It’s going to look good at times,” Burgess said. “We can’t really judge on that, but are we controlling our controllables?”
“I know we’re not in the best shape that we’re going to be like we will be in January and February,” Burgess continued. “We understand it, but are we pushing ourselves to keep getting just a little bit better?”
“I know by the end of the (season), we’re going to be a pretty damn good team,” Burgess said.
It’s the start of the new season and coach Burgess said the anticipation has been building for the campaign to start.
“Our new season started in April after we took our break after the state tournament,” Burgess said. “We had guys getting in the gym, getting shots up and getting work done out in the spring.”
“All the summer stuff we do. We travel to all these different tournaments and put on all the miles to go play different teams,” Burgess continued. “Just all that stuff to prepare ourselves for this day.”
Havre’s boys’ basketball team will follow the Havre girls on court on Saturday in Miles City. Tip-off with the Cowboys is scheduled for 5:30pm and Havre High’s Activities Director Mark Irvin will be on the call for KOJM-610AM, 98.3FM, and HiLineToday.com.
