Heat boys face low numbers

Sorry guys, but three-on-three basketball is not an option.

The body-challenged Hot Springs boys basketball team only has six players on the roster and, unlike the football team which was allowed to drop back to the 6-Man game by a vote of the MHSA (see other story), there are no other options for playing the game with less than the required five people at this time.

Long-time Savage Heat coach Ricky DePoe says that his team will attempt to play their schedule, which begins with a pair of games in the Tip-Off Tournament in Frenchtown this weekend, but isn’t sure of how it will all go down with so few players.

The Heat are set to face Seeley-Swan Friday and Darby Saturday in Frenchtown. DePoe said he thought the games will start at 4:30 p.m. each day.

“What is the limit to how many players you actually need to play?” DePoe asked. “It’s hard to believe that we are in this situation but this is where we are at. It’s going to be a long season by the looks of it.”

DePoe said that the players he has are willing and eager, he just wishes he had more of them on hand.

He said the roster took its first big hit during the football season when junior Tyler Knudsen, one of the better athletes in Hot Springs right now, went down with a broken foot. He is not expected to be able to play basketball this winter.

DePoe said he has some talented players like Justin Salmi, Brandon Knudsen, Tyler Carr and wrestling convert Luke Waterbury, but openly wonders about what he will be forced to do in the face of foul trouble during games, or the possibility of another injury or two during the season.

“We are going to really try for the kids’ sake, but this is going to be tough,” he said.