Three Grizzlies receive postseason honors

Rocky Mountain’s young basketball team that fought their way to the state basketball tournament was awarded for their play in the form of three players receiving postseason honors – all sophomores.

Mason Moss was named to the Class 2A All-State team, and he was joined on the 2A West All-Region team by Cooper Winland. Evin Clendenen joined Moss and Winland on the 2A Northwest All-Conference team.

Moss finished the season second in the West and fourth in the state in scoring, averaging 18.5 points per game. He was also eighth in the conference in assists at 2.9 per game and 10th in steals at 2.1 per contest. He finished sixth in the conference and eighth in 2A in three-point percentage at 32 percent, and he finished fifth in the conference and sixth in the state in free-throw percentage, knocking down 67 percent of his shots from the foul line.

“Mason is a coach’s dream,” Rocky head coach Pat Winland said. “He can play all five positions on the floor, and he’s very humble. He’s just as excited to see his teammates succeed as doing something himself.

“He can shoot the three or post up. He took care of our ballhandling duties. The thing about Mason is he knows what he needs to get better at, and he will. He wants to work on a pull-up jumper and getting to his spots (on the court). That’s going to be on us as a coaching staff to get him to those spots.”

Winland noted that, as Rocky’s leading scorer, he was the focus of each opponent’s defense and got each opponent’s best defender.

“He never lost his cool despite all of the defenses he saw,” Winland noted. “He was grabbed all year long and kept his head. He’s the type of kid who will hit the weight room. He’s the quarterback for both football and basketball.”

Cooper Winland finished seventh in the conference in blocked shots, batting away nearly one shot per game, and he shot 49 percent from the field, ninth in conference games. Winland averaged 10.5 points and 5.8 rebounds per game, plus 2.6 assists per contest. He shot 55 percent from two-point range.

“Cooper had a great postseason at Regionals and State,” Coach Winland said. “He was more assertive, which we’d been asking of him all year. He almost plays too unselfishly. He takes after his brother (Taylor) with some of his (post) moves and maybe a move from his dad (Coach Pat) here and there.

“I had to play him out of position at times for ballhandling, which took him away from the basket – to the chagrin of his grandfather Ralph. He stayed out of foul trouble, and we could count on him for much needed scoring and a key rebound here and there. He could step outside and hit jumpers to relieve some pressure, and that’s something that he’ll need to add more to his game this summer.”

Clendenen shot 51 percent from the field this season, fifth in the 2A West, and he led the team with 55 offensive rebounds while pulling down 5.5 rebounds per contest. He averaged 6.2 points per game.

“Evin is one of those tough lefthanded post players that I, myself, would have hated to guard,” Winland said. “He has a strong upper body and kept adding moves to his post game as the year went on. He was a great complement to Cooper in the post. His whole overall game improved. The more he played, the better he got as the year went on.

“This was his first varsity experience, and he missed his eighth-grade year with knee stuff. We hope to get him some more moves in his game this summer. Hopefully he can work on his agility and just realize how big he is and use that to his advantage.”

A look back

Taking a look back on the Grizzlies’ 12-17 season, Winland said the young team can take a stride next season but will have to work to do it.

“This is a big off-season for a lot of these kids,” he said. “We’ve gotten a lot of compliments on our potential, but that’s all it is – potential. If nothing is done this summer by several of our players, then we won’t have the improvement we expect.”

He said summer league, open gym and work in the weight room will be available to players to help them improve and mature.

Winland had plenty of praise for his assistant coaches Jeff Samson and Taylor Winland.

“Jeff and Taylor do such a great job. I never have to ask those guys to do something,” he said. “I couldn’t ask for two better assistants.”