4
Cottage Grove Boys Basketball
Team Rundown:
After winning back-to-back league
titles, the Lions are facing a pair of
new things this season: a new coach
and four new starters.
“I’m excited. It’s just new. The
whole atmosphere of the gym, the
program, everything is new to me,”
said first year coach Nick Finley. Fin-
ley won a state title while playing at
Creswell in 2003-04 and most recent-
ly won back-to-back state titles as
head coach at Ninilchik High School
in Ninilchik, Alaska.
Cottage Grove’s lone returning
starter this season is 6’2 junior DeJean
Alonzo.
“The first time I met DeJean, great
kid by the way, and he was like, ‘Yeah
I’m the only returning starter’ and I
was like, ‘Yeah that doesn’t mean any-
thing to me,’” said Finley.
Finley is committed to giving every
kid a chance to succeed in his sys-
tem. A system based on being in peak
shape. Last year’s Ninilchik team used
traps and speed to consistently blow
teams out to the point the starters
rarely played in the second half. Ex-
cept on senior night.
“I told the other coach, I’m going
to play my seniors the whole game…
I told him the situation that they’ve
had to sit out like half the games.
They just want to play and it’s senior
night, their last game at home,” said
Finley. “And we beat them 130-40.”
This year the Cottage Grove players
have felt the uptick in focus on being
in game shape.
“A lot more cardio and a lot more
conditioning. Like we’re working on
a lot more fast break stuff. We’re go-
ing to have a fast-paced offense,” said
returning player Jesse Ellingsworth.
“It’s a lot more fun to play that style.”
Ed & Kori Sowa
Independent Owner-Operators
facebook.com/CottageGroveGroceryOutlet
On the changes to the team:
It’s going to be interesting. Ha-
ven’t played with the guys for
awhile. New coach, new play-
ers. And then next year, the new
league.
We condition more. We’re going
to be running teams pretty fast. We
plan to be the in the best shape of
a team in state. Everyone wants to
reach their goal of being the fast-
est and the best they can be early. I
think it is going to translate into a
lot of points. Quick points. We’re
going to score a lot. Very exciting.
On being a successful team:
Successful season like short-
term goal is to win the league
championship for the third time
Cottage Grove
200 Gateway Blvd.
Cottage Grove, OR 97424
4
(541) 942-5400
Mon. - Sat. 8am - 9pm
Sun. 9am - 8pm
Team Perspective in a row. And then the long term
is holding another blue tro-
with DeJean Alonzo: goal
phy up.
SAVE 40-70%
ON GROCERIES.
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Wishing every team a great season!
Dine with us before the game or grab an order to go.
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On how football translates to basketball:
The success for football we had
to put in a lot of work: early in the
summer, all the way up during and
before practices, practices. And
that’s what needs to happen on the
basketball court, too. People com-
ing early and doing everything.
On a teammate he is excited about:
The first person that comes to
mind is Jordan Hagewood. He
came in, he played his freshman
year on varsity and then he was
playing in the morning and tore
his ACL and his MCL playing
with some teachers and took two
years off and now he’s back which
makes me really excited.
