A year ago, Clarkrange Buffaloes Boys Basketball Head Coach Brent Logan said he saw his program take an important step forward. The Buffaloes finished last season at 16-16, a dramatic improvement from the season before. But Logan said he believed there was still more potential, and this winter, his team is proving him right.
Behind an experienced rotation and the best offensive start the program has seen in years, the Buffaloes have opened this season with a 6-1 record through November, including two victories during their Thanksgiving tournament run in Monterey.
With two seniors, one junior, and two sophomores in the starting lineup, and a rotation that runs up to ten players deep – Logan said Clarkrange is fielding one of its most seasoned groups in recent memory. For a program that has often relied on youth, Logan said that depth has made an immediate and visible difference.
“That core group, all of them getting those minutes together, playing these tough teams and just learning how to play with each other is great,” Logan said. “They’re all unselfish, they don’t care who leads in scoring, who gets the points, who’s leading us. They just want to win.”
That mentality has produced one of the most explosive starts in the Buffaloes’ modern history. Clarkrange is averaging nearly 70 points per game, a ten point jump from last season. The offensive highlight came in the team’s 92-point outburst against Gospel Christian, the program’s highest single-game scoring total since December 2007.
Logan said the early success is also rooted in the lessons learned from last year’s postseason. Clarkrange fell short of its goal of advancing deeper into region play, with the Jo Byrns matchup lingering as one that slipped away early.
“We got off to a slow start,” Logan said. “This group has gelled really well together, and I feel the sky is the limit for them.”
Logan said the next step required maturity, composure, and continuity. This year’s roster has brought exactly that.
“I felt like we had a decent year last year,” he said. “There were games I felt like we played really well, and that’s something we didn’t do the year before.”
Clarkrange will begin December with two matchups in four days before preparing for the holidays.
