From the outside looking in, Camas County has had a seamless transition from a state runner-up football season into basketball season.
It’s a group that’s already accomplished a lot on the hardwood. Many of the Mushers nine seniors were part of a team that lost to Rockland in the 1A Division 2 state championship as sophomores. Last season, Camas County finished first in the Sawtooth Conference in the regular season before falling one game short of the state tournament.
Entering Saturday afternoon’s contest at Cascade, the Mushers are 6-0 and boast an average victory margin of 17.8 points per game. That’s promising, but for those on the team, there’s a lot more room to grow.
“It’s been a rocky start for sure,” senior Troy Smith told the Times-News. “But we’ve played a lot of basketball so it’s coming back to us like riding a bike. It’s a little sloppy right now but we’ll get there.”
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All but one kid on the Camas County varsity roster played football this fall on a team that advanced to the state championship game for the first time since 1981.
Several were banged up and bruised from football, and there was no time off before jumping into basketball season. Because of some of the injuries, some kids hadn’t even practiced before the Mushers season opening 57-45 win against Castleford on Nov. 30.
“I’m not sure we realized it was a roundball instead of a pigskin ball the first couple games,” head coach Jamon Frostenson told the Times-News. “Really in the last week they’ve kind of got their basketball legs under them.”
Despite needing some more time to get back into basketball shape, the Mushers have some things working in their favor. Many of the nine seniors who play most of the minutes have played together since kindergarten.
When the boys are not in season, they host Sunday open gyms to shoot, a tradition Smith said long precedes his time as a varsity player.
Camas County also plays at a fast pace, which when combined with the chemistry it built, makes things incredibly tough for the opposition.
It was on display in the Mushers 74-56 win over the Murtaugh Red Devils on Wednesday.
To start the game, Trevor Tews drove to the basket and earned a good look before making a split-second decision to pass to Emmett Palan for a layup.
Then early in the second quarter, Tristen Smith rebounded a missed shot, then hit Palan on an outlet pass down the left side of the court before Palan found Troy Smith on the right side of the paint for another easy layup.
In the third quarter, Troy Smith got a rebound and fired a full-court pass to Palan for a layup. The Red Devils hung around in the first half as they hit tough shots, but couldn’t keep up in the third quarter as Camas County put the game away.
“It’s the only way we know how to play,” Troy Smith said. “We’ve never played any other way.”
To keep the team ready to play that way for four quarters, the Mushers do a lot of drill-based conditioning.
The drills run fullcourt one way, then come back the other. It helps them hone in on various parts of their game while not thinking about all the running they’re doing. Of course, it’s not just all about scoring. Frostenson said the team needs to play strong defense if they want to play fast, and they appear to have bought in.
“That was the kind of compromise I made with them,” Frostenson said. “If you want to play that style, which they do, they love it, OK, we can do that but we’re going to play some patient defense and good defense.”
As the season continues, Camas County wants to be fast and aggressive on both ends of the floor while working toward some lofty goals.
After beating Richfield once in the Sawtooth Conference tournament last year, Camas County needed just one more win to get back to the state tournament. Instead, the Mushers lost to the Tigers twice and didn’t get back to Dairy Madness.
This year, the goal is to be the last team in 1A D2 standing.
It doesn’t hurt that Kendrick, who beat Camas County in the state football championship this fall, is the defending basketball state champion. The Mushers can’t look too far ahead, though, as Hagerman and Dietrich look like tough competition in the conference.
Tristen, Troy Smith and Palan have started since their freshman year, and every year Frostenson thinks about how fun it is that they have another year. That’s not the case anymore, and everyone involved wants to take advantage of the time they have left together.
“I really do feel like a lot of these guys do feel the unfinished business of last year and I’ve noticed some comments and things said so we’re all kind of in sync with that mentality,” Frostenson said. “We all kind of have the same goal and we’re at the oars together.”