The Minnewaska boys basketball team is set to open up the season Saturday, Dec. 3 at Redwood Valley followed by the home opener Tuesday, Dec. 6 against Montevideo.

Back to lead the Lakers again this year is head coach Hunter Salathe, who will be assisted by Dan Dahl, Nick Danielson, Brian Walker, Zach Traphagen and Gabe Eisenbacher.

The Lakers went 3-9 in the WCC and 4-23 overall last year.  Key losses from last year’s team are Hunter Kostelecky, Damon Uhde, Tate Reichmann and Ethan Quelle, who were the top four scorers for the Lakers last year, combining to average 41.4 points per game out of an average of 48.1 points per game scored by Minnewaska Area last year.

Kostelecky averaged 13.7 points per game and was also the leading rebounder with 230 total rebounds, while Uhde averaged 10.7 points, four rebounds and team-highs of 2.2 steals and 5.1 assists per game, Quelle averaged 11.1 points and 3.4 rebounds and Reichmann averaged 5.6 points and 1.7 steals per contest.

That means the Lakers will have to come up with enough points to offset at least 85 percent of its offense from last year.  However, that also gives a lot of opportunities for other players to step into the role of a starter with the Lakers.

“We’re excited for the season to start; we do return PJ Johnson, who started last year for us, along with Hunter Kloos, Tenzin Dahl and Blake Andreas, who missed last season due to an injury,” coach Hunter Salathe said prior to the start of official practices Monday, Nov. 21.  “We also have a lot of younger players that have been waiting for their opportunity to earn a starting spot.”

PJ Johnson averaged 3 points and 2.2 rebounds per game in 25 games played, Dahl averaged 3.9 points and 1.4 rebounds during eight games on the varsity, and Kloos averaged 3.6 points and 1.9 rebounds in eight games.

•  Morris Area, which placed fourth at state Class AA, won last year’s WCC title with an 11-1 league mark, followed by Sauk Centre (8-4), BOLD and Melrose (both 7-5), Montevideo (6-6), Minnewaska (3-9) and Benson (0-12).

In the Section 3AA Tourney, the Lakers fell to Morris Area in the opening round, 65-41, to end the season with an overall record of 4-23.

Morris Area went on to beat Litchfield (67-42), West Central Area (82-49) and Redwood Valley (56-54) to win the Section 3AA title and a berth at state where the Tigers  beat Minnehaha Academy (71-67) before losing to Minneapolis North (71-53) and Caledonia (74-56) to finish fourth in Class AA.