Dec. 9—BELGRADE — A handful of impactful players — starters and others off the bench — are returning for the Belgrade-Brooten-Elrosa boys basketball team in the upcoming season.
They look to lead the Jaguars, who are coming off a 7-7 record in the Central Minnesota Conference and a 10-17 overall record, to their 11th straight season with double digits in wins.
"We return five players who saw varsity time last year — two starters and three that came off the bench," BBE head coach Austin Rambow, who enters his second season. "We have a bunch of players who will work really hard in all aspects of the game. Keys to our success will be defending as a team at a high level and then getting out and scoring in transition.
"We will have a good mix of older and younger players. With our strength of schedule, we will continue to improve throughout the year to get to our best at the end of the season."
Rambow and company will lean on Taylor Pieper for a big season following the team's losses highlighted by Luke Illies, a graduated All-Area Second Team pick.
Pieper, a 6-0 senior guard, averaged 12.8 points, 3.8 rebounds and 1.6 assists per contest in an All-Central Minnesota Second Team junior year."Taylor is a three-level scorer," Rambow said. "He can catch and shoot, and at the same time, he is able to attack the basket off the dribble and is crafty around the rim. He will be one of our better perimeter defenders this year and we look for him to help us on the boards."
Another key player who is young, but brings a boat load of experience is Lance Radermacher.
The 6-3 sophomore forward posted 6.4 points and 4.6 rebounds per game a season ago.
"This will be Lance's third year seeing varsity experience," Rambow said. "He is a physical player down low and is relentless on the boards. Lance had a really good summer and improved on his outside shooting. He will be a focal point in our offense this year."