Prep basketball: Bingham hopes to go big

For the Bingham boys' basketball team, anything less than the state semifinals this year will be looked at as a disappointment.

With All-State center and Utah State commit Ben Clifford anchoring the middle Bingham is looked at as one of the top contenders for the 2009-2010 season. Along with the 6-foot-8 Clifford, head coach Mark Dubach has five other seniors to rely on, plus a couple of up-and-coming juniors who will be expected to contribute this year.

"We love Ben, and having him is a luxury for sure," Dubach said. "But this offense does not go through Ben exclusively. We play Bingham ball here, which is all five guys on the court being a threat to score."

Clifford dominated opposing centers last year, scoring in double digits in 22 out of 24 regular season games last year. He led the Miners in scoring averaging 14 points a game and played a huge role on defense, blocking shots and grabbing rebounds at an accelerated pace.

"Knowing I'm going to Utah State took a lot of the things I would worry about off the court away," Clifford said. "I can now concentrate on what I do best, and that's playing ball."

Dubach also has a solid senior point guard in Shad Sommerville. Sommerville averaged 7 points a game last year, but took a back seat to some of the seniors on last year's squad in terms of scoring. He is a great facilitator of the ball, and sets up his teammates well both in transition and in the half-court game.

"Having Ben and Shad out there is invaluable. We will look to them as our team leaders," Dabach said. "They've played and contributed on this team since they were sophomores, so they've seen it all."

Dubach termed his offseason as very successful and is looking forward to seeing what the Miners can do this season. He acknowledges that road to where they want to go will not be easy, and with foes like Copper Hills, West Jordan and Riverton on the schedule the Miners will have a tough go of things.

 

Taylorsville girls' basketball

Jace Hymas is not a fan of girls soccer right now. While Mia Hamm may take umbrage to that statement, Hymas who is the Taylorsville girls basketball coach, lost his starting backcourt for the entire season to soccer-related injuries.

"Let's just say soccer and I are not on the best of terms at the moment," Hymas said.

Hymas is entering his 14th season as the head coach of the Warriors, but it is safe to say has never started a season like this. He lost his starting point guard Siu Lo'amanu to a torn ACL and meniscus suffered in the last soccer game of the year.

Along with her sister Sauna Lo'amanu, Siu was counted on to be one of the leaders and go-to players for Taylorsville this season. Instead, she will miss this season and Hymas hopes she comes back strong in her junior season next year.

"It's unfortunate that we lost Siu and you hate to see a player lose a whole season, especially one as talented as her," said Hymas. "She can't be replaced just like that because we don't have the number of girls that come out for tryouts like some of the other programs, and we can't just go and pluck other girls from other teams like certain teams do in our region."

Hymas is hoping that along with Sauna Lo'Amanu, who led the Warriors in scoring last season with 11 points per game, sophomore Whitney Mitchell and senior Micale Seaman can help the Warriors get back to the state playoffs, which Taylorsville has made each year that Hymas has been at the helm.

Freshman Pela Tapusera will try to replace Siu, and 6-foot-3 junior Brooke Slade will provide some scoring help. With that depth, the Warriors look to have a team that can contend for a playoff spot in Region 3.

Last year, Taylorsville finished second in Region 3 with a 7-3 record but lost in the first round of the playoffs to Lone Peak. The team had some internal problems, and Hymas believes that it may have stymied the Warriors from reaching their true potential.

Although losing your second-leading scorer and starting point guard could be a major letdown, Hymas does not see that affecting this year's squad.

"Our focus this year is a lot better than last year already," said Hymas.

This year Hymas will have his work cut out for him as only three teams from Region 3 will make the playoffs. With heavily favored Bingham more than likely getting a spot, that leaves a three-team race between Taylorsville, Riverton and Kearns for two positions.

"We expect to be there in the end," Hymas said. "If not, I'm blaming it on soccer."