LA CENTER JUNIOR Jake Wise (30) goes up for a shot against King’s Way Christian defenders in action Dec. 19. Wise is averaging 16 points and 10 rebounds a game for the Wildcats so far this season.
LA CENTER SENIOR Brody Seter (32) pushes the basketball up the court in the Wildcats’ game against King’s Way Christian Saturday. Seter scored 23 points to lead his team but La Center lost 60-48 to the Trico League-leading Knights.
LA CENTER – La Center boys basketball coach Jeremy Ecklund says he receives one common analysis about his team.
“All of the comments I’ve got from our fans have been the same tone,’’ said Ecklund, in his first season as La Center’s head coach. “Everybody tells me how hard they work and it’s true. These guys will run through a brick wall for us if we ask them to. They just go.’’
Ecklund takes over the reigns to the La Center program after serving as the Wildcats’ junior varsity coach during the past six seasons. As a 1998 graduate of Kalama High School, Ecklund was very familiar with the glory days of the La Center program, which won back-to-back state titles in 1996 and 1997.
Because of that awareness, Ecklund said the first thing he did after becoming the Wildcats’ head coach was to try to tap into the successful history of the program. Ecklund hired Scott Weaver, an assistant coach on the La Center title teams, and he also consulted with former coach Forbes Lapp on what made those former teams so good.
“Those teams were the best show around,’’ Ecklund said. “I wanted to go back to that tough man-to-man defense that Forbes had them playing. I know Scott Weaver played for Forbes so I wanted him to be my assistant. I had several conversations with Forbes over the past few months to get some advice from him. He is definitely a wealth of basketball knowledge and I wanted to tap into that as much as I possible could.’’
Thus far, this year’s Wildcats’ team has shown it has made a commitment at the defensive end of the court. In a win earlier this season, La Center held Stevenson to just 23 points. In another victory, the Wildcats held Woodland to just 39 points.
La Center’s only two losses this season were by two points at Castle Rock and 60-48 to Trico League-leading King’s Way Christian 60-48 on Saturday. In the loss to King’s Way, the Wildcats trailed the highly ranked Knights by just four points (42-38) heading into the fourth quarter.
Senior guard Brody Seter led La Center with 23 points in the loss to King’s Way. Seter, a 6-foot-1 guard, is now averaging 15 points a game for the Wildcats.
“Brody is doing an excellent job for us,’’ Ecklund said. “He is a good outside threat. He can pretty much shoot the ball from anywhere he wants when he is open.’’
Junior Jake Wise, a 6-2 forward, is averaging 16 points and 10 rebounds for the Wildcats so far this season.
“Jake is a machine around the basket,’’ Ecklund said. “He’s got a constant motor. He’s always going for every rebound. He just goes non-stop. He’s one of those guys.’’
Senior Dalton Morgan, a 6-1 forward, is contributing nine points and about 3.5 steals a game.
“Dalton isn’t flashy but just quietly ends up with double figures (points) on putbacks and things like that,’’ Ecklund said of Morgan.
Sophomore Jackson Leslie is chipping in 7.4 points a game. The 6-foot guard missed Saturday’s game with a sprained ankle but Ecklund hopes to have him back in the lineup soon.
“Jackson is a solid shooter,’’ Ecklund said. “As a sophomore, he’s surprised us a little bit as an offensive threat.’’
Junior Jon Eastman is a 5-11 guard who Ecklund says is “one of defensive guys. He just works his tail off every game. He will work until he passes out. His No. 1 job is to stop the other team’s best ballhandler.’’
The Wildcats suffered a big setback early in the season when senior point guard Sawyer Bierscheid went down with an injury. Ecklund is unsure whether Bierscheid will be able to return this season. Freshman Avery Seter is getting an opportunity to fill the role.
“He definitely has some basketball smarts,’’ Ecklund said of his freshman. “He’s played a lot of basketball so we’re looking for some good things from him in the next few years.’’
Other key contributors for the Wildcats this season are junior Matt Baher, a 6-1 forward and sophomore Jack Hiller, a 6-3 forward.
La Center’s varsity roster also includes seniors Jake Morris (6-0 guard) and Austin Paradis (5-11 forward) and junior Nate Beed (6-1 forward).
Ecklund is counting on his team to continue to give the same great effort every night and the coach hopes the Wildcats’ offense will catch up to its defense at some point this season.
“I honestly think with the style of defense we play that we can mix it up every night,’’ the coach said. “I think we can be in the top three in the Trico League. Our style of play will keep us in every game.’’
