Loggers look to youth after loss of seniors

After being brushed aside by two teams with inertia in the Northwestern A district tournament, the Libby Loggers boys basketball team will lose a wealth of talent to graduation.

Libby graduates five players, including four starters, and will leave a very inexperienced class for next year. The Loggers finished with a 7-13 record.

Libby’s crop of seniors, Dan Leggins, Will Reichel, Barak Lapka, Lane Luscher, and Kraig Nelson were a highly athletic group but perhaps a bit unrefined as basketball players.

“The issue was that we were consistently inconsistent,” said Head Coach Wally Winslow. “There were very few times we played poorly for the entire game. We’d have a short burst of errors, and we couldn’t come back.”

The Loggers remained competitive in nearly every game, but couldn’t hang with some conference squads. This was true during the two district losses against Polson (47-40) and Whitefish (65-41).

“We did pretty good,” said senior guard Reichel, whose favorite memory was sinking the game-winning free throws against Bonners Ferry. “But we should have won a few more games.”

Reichel became the defensive specialist for Libby. Lapka and Nelson were high-intensity post players, and Leggins was an effective ball-handler. Luscher came back from a football injury to be an offensive spark, earning him team most-inspirational honors.

Leggins and Nelson earned all-conference nods.

“They’re really a likable group,” coach Winslow said. “I’ve always been so proud of the way they conduct themselves.”

The only returning players with significant varsity experience are junior guard Jared Winslow and sophomore guard Collin Johnson. Winslow earned first-team all-conference and all-state awards after his banner season.

With the exception of the playoff game against Whitefish (in which aggressive defense kept him scoreless) Feb. 23, Winslow scored double digits in every game this season. Johnson was a valuable perimeter player but not a high scorer.

Junior center Tarasik Krisanov also got some playing time, but he, Quinn Sullivan, Dalton Brown, Michael Curtiss and Isaak Jones will have to catch up to Johnson and Winslow in a hurry, as they will form the nucleus of next year’s varsity squad.

“Basketball is a game where everybody is a quarterback,” Winslow said. “There has to be some weight-room time and time at the open gym. There has to be a level of dedication there.”