Heat boys keep getting better

Wins and losses are not the most important thing for the Hot Springs Savage Heat boys this basketball season. Never surrendering and improving every day are the goals for coach Ricky DePoe and his undermanned Heat.

Going with only six players this season, the Heat dropped a pair of District 14C conference games last week, falling 74-43 to Two Eagle River in Pablo Thursday and 95-19 to Arlee in Hot Springs Saturday.

Up this week for the Heat are road games with Valley Christian in Missoula Thursday and against Mission in St. Ignatius Friday.

DePoe said he saw this season of absurdly low turnout numbers coming a few years ago but did not feel stepping aside would have been the honorable thing to do.

“I am here for everything, the good and the bad,” DePoe, who also serves as the assistant coach for the Hot Springs girls team, said. “And, as long as these kids keep trying and improving, I am good with that.”

At Pablo, Brandon Knudsen threw in 25 points to lead Hot Springs, Tyler Carr added 14, Sean Fisher three and Justin Salmi one.

Brendan McDonald led Two Eagle with 28 points and Kieshon Burke scored 11 more for the Eagles.

Against Arlee, Knudsen scored seven points, Luke Waterbury added five, Salmi three and Fisher and Carr two each.

Led by Greg Whitesell’s 22 points, five Warrior players scored in double figures.

Arlee reportedly left its starters in the game until well into the fourth quarter.

DePoe knows what he is up against with his latest Hot Springs team. “We need to develop some confidence in ourselves and that takes experience.” he said. “These kids are eager and willing to learn, it’s just too bad we don’t have enough kids to field a junior varsity team where we could work on those skills more at that level before getting thrown into the fire in varsity games.”

One thing DePoe likes about his team is the players’ tenacity. “They never give up no matter what the score is,” he said, “and they are getting better every game. I really can’t ask for more than that.”