More time on the court resulted in a winning season for the Powell High School boys’ freshman basketball team, as the Panthers got in two more games this year compared to last and finished with an 8-7 record.

“That isn’t very many games, however, it’s better than last year since we only had 13 last year,” coach Greg Stenlund said.

Improvement was the constant message to the team, he said, as the young Panthers continually focused on physical toughness.

“My players from this year heard from me toward the end of that season that where they need to improve is in their physical toughness,” Stenlund said. “Too many times this year they were in the right position whether it was on defense, offense or out-of-bounds plays but would lose the ball to a tougher kid on the opposing team.”

He added that they continually ran a specific drill to improve their toughness, and he is hopeful lessons from this year will lead to offseason improvement in the weight room.

“In practice we drilled ‘war rebounding’ over and over, and I would still have players lose possession because of toughness. In the offseason I hope they will commit to increasing their strength,” Stenlund said.

Leading the way in scoring for the young Panthers was a dynamic duo in August Teten and Trey Schultz.

“One of them was the leading scorer in every game, one or both of them usually scored in the 20s,” Stenlund said. “Defensively they were very solid as well; they both had a good feel for being in a good help position in our man-to-man defense. Trey had two games where he hit seven three’s, one game where he hit six and another game where he hit five. I was impressed with his ability to shoot from long range. August had five games where he scored 20 or more points; he shines when he takes it to the basket. His ability to drive through defenders is very good for a freshman.”

While those Panthers led in scoring, Stenlund felt like a pair of Wyatts, Hill and Bost, showed some of the greatest improvement throughout and ended up becoming important players in the rebounding category for the team.

“They were not outstanding in scoring, but just kept getting better in the rebounding phase of the game. They both started rebounding in a timid way and learned to be more aggressive as the season went along,” Stenlund said. “They are both tall kids and will be great rebounders in our program in the coming years. Each of them also improved in their help position on defense. They both ended up being players in the right position both offensively and defensively.”

Stenlund said there were plenty of highlights as a team, including recording victories over some tough 3A opponents in Cody, Worland and Buffalo.

“We also had a couple half-court threes going into the half that were pretty fun,” he added.

The Panthers finished with a winning record, but Stenlund noted that as he’s gone along in his career it has become less and less about the final results.

“The longer I coach, I am less concerned with winning and losing, and more interested if I can help my players become solid young men that will grow up and become productive adults,” he said.

He added that this was a fun group to coach, and they continued to support each other throughout the year.

“They listened well and tried very hard to learn the different phases of the game. They also supported each other and kept up good effort even though our record was not the best,” Stenlund said. “This group probably improved more as a team than any team I have coached at PHS over the years.”