Rams Basketball will face new schools in Interior Conference

Su Valley Basketball is in a new conference this year, they’ve joined the Interior Alaska league. Last week the Varsity and junior men’s and women’s teams opened up the season against a team they had not met before. KTNA’s Lorien Nettleton spoke with men’s coach Mike Mathews, and has this report.

listen to full story: (3:24) Basketball

Varsity and junior teams from Effie Cochrane came down from Fairbanks for a two-game series last week to play the first games of the season against the Su Valley Rams.

After graduating out a number of experienced seniors last year, Men’s coach Mike Matthews has a team comprised of young players who have not yet faced a level of competition that takes place in the larger Interior Conference that Su Valley is now a part of. He says the team played a good system, but had a hard time responding to a free-flowing style of ball played by the Effie Cochrane team.

Clip: Effie style

The Rams won the first game in the series on Friday night by a single point, and lost game 2 on Saturday by an 8-point margin. Coach Matthews says turning a new group of players in to a competitive team is a confidence game.

Clip: confidence

Matthews is hoping to put together a Northern Valley all-star practice squad to play against the Rams Varsity squad. Ideally, he says, it would offer a range of playing styles for the team to practice against.

Clip: Practice squad

Mathews says the new Interior conference is going to bring more competitive games to Su Valley, with a home schedule of almost twice as many games as in previous years. the Rams will get a look at several teams this weekend at the Tri-Valley Tourney in Healy, where they will meet Effie Cochrane again. Mathews says It should be exciting to learn the many different teams strengths and weaknesses of the Interior Conference

Clip: conference