Eddyville Boys Hoops Ready to Fly

Eddyville basketball is gearing up for a big season this year. With many returning players who have experience, along with many helpful newcomers, this season could be one to remember. Last year, the Eagles finished 13-10 and fourth place in their conference. With a chance to play for a state playoff spot in their last game, Eddyville fell short against a veteran Siletz squad. 

Coach: Mike Ulstad (36-64, 6th season)
Coach Ulstad is back for his 6th season at Eddyville. After helping re-start the program in the 2013-14 season, the Eagles have been on a steady upward trend ever since. The first two seasons were a struggle, with the team recording just 3 wins over those two years. Ever since, the Eagles have spread their wings and have had back to back seasons over .500 with a 14-9 record in 2016-17, and a 13-10 record last year. The team has recorded an overall 33-32 record over the past three seasons.

The squad will start out there season against Yoncalla at the Gilchrist Tournament on November 30th. Another game the team is really looking forward to is against Siletz on December 11th, which is the 7th game of the season. Siletz and Eddyville have had many great battles over the last few years, and this year’s games are sure to be more of the same.

Despite returning many guys, the Eddyville squad will be missing a few key players from last year’s team. Trent Kinion was a scoring guard averaging 12.2 points per game. He was a starter earning all league awards such as 2nd team all league and 3rd team league the past two seasons respectively. Trent graduated a year early, which is a major loss. Logan Rorie was a defensive threat and a sixth man coming off the bench. Logan provided a spark off the bench that will be missed. Also Cameron Davis, a starter last season, transferred for his final season.

The Eddyville basketball team has a good amount of boys coming back. Everyone but the three mentioned above are returning and there are even more freshman coming up. We have four freshman coming from middle school to join us. Returning for the Eagles are senior Kurt Faxon, juniors Brier Rariden, Korbyn Byrd, Isaac Kinion, Chris Cross, and Keagan Spikes, and sophomores Carter Gassner and Logan Stafford. Here are some of the stats for some of our players returning. Isaac Kinion finished 2nd team all-league with 11.2 ppg, 3.8 rpg, 1.5 spg. Kurt Faxon is a 3 year starter and is a big rebounder for the team with 6 rpg last year. Keagan Spikes led the team in scoring with 14.2 ppg, to go along with 3.7 rpg, 3.9 spg. This was good for first team all-league last season. 

We have four freshmen, and two newcomers to the team who are joining this year. For the freshman, we have Jace Richards, Payton Rockmore, Max Kinion, Kyle Sanders and Wayne Nephew. We also have two newcomers, one has never played and one hasn’t played since middle school. The two players are Cheyden Gutierrez and Tucker Smith.

Come out and support these boys as they have nine home games, and get to play a showcase game at the Moda Center on December 23rd against CS Lewis.

​

---