Cats seek third straight trip to state playoffs

SANDPOINT - New coach Melvin Speelmon will build his first boys basketball team around two twin towers and three quick guards, hoping to bring a little of the old Jerry Tarkanian-led UNLV run and gun style of the early 1990s to Clark Fork this season.

Speelmon, a former player and assistant coach at Clark Fork, plans to draw on the teachings of previous Wampus Cat coached Bird Nietmann and Brian Powell, the latter of which he replaces this season. While he plans to push the tempo offensively, he'll hang his hat on old fashioned, hard-nosed defense.

"We'll either win or lose on the defensive end; that's what I believe in," says Speelmon, who plans to run a version of Tarkanian's old Amoeba defense, a gambling defense that can create havoc when run properly. "Put on the press and either speed the game up or slow it down."

The Cats' best player is senior Jared Broggi, a 6-6, 270-pound post with a surprisingly well-rounded game. Speelmon expects him to be the team leader, as well as register double-doubles, like he did last year when he was a force on the blocks. He'll team with 6-5, 240-pound Chase Chowning to give the Cats' a formidable presence inside.

"They're going to have to work well together," says Speelmon of his two centers. "Chase will be our Dennis Rodman, get all of the rebounds and put backs."

For the first time in what seems like forever, a new point guard will be running the show as lighting quick Pat Young replaces North Star League MVP Mike Martin as floor general. Brothers Nate and Chaunce Nesbitt will round out the starting five, and Howard Katzenberg, Stillman Berkley, Glenn DeMers and Austin Thrasher will all see minutes as the Cats hope to keep the pressure high.

Speelmon is hoping to emerge from a tough early spate of games against 3A teams with at least a .500 record, a tough task for a 1A school playing up against Timberlake, Priest River, St. Maries and at the Newport tournament. That tough early seasoning will pay dividends in a run at the state tournament.

"I have a goal of keeping the players buying into the system," Speelmon says, hoping to put an entertaining product on the court. "We're going to try and push it as much as we can."