Hunter and Granger boys basketball seasons depend on leadership

“We are off to a good start this year,” Hunter boys basketball head coach Dave Filimoehala said. “We have a really good group of team captains this year.”

The team captains are seniors Dimitri Saliba, point guard; Ronnie Montoya, guard; Cory Tauilili, forward; and junior Trevon Johnson, guard.

All four captains are top scorers. At the game against Herriman on Dec. 9, Trevon Johnson, scored 10 of his 20 points in the fourth quarter including the game-winner at the buzzer to end the game at 61-59.

“Our biggest improvement this year is the team chemistry and they play together really, really well,” Filimoehala said. “We are also really quick, athletic, and a good scoring team.”

The Wolverines have a new key player –-- freshman Noah Togiai. Togiai is one of the team’s tallest players at 6-foot-3 and is consistently a top scorer. Togiai made four three- pointers and scored a total of 16 points helping to lead the win over Cyprus, along with Saliba’s 17 points, final score 81-66 on Dec. 16.

This is senior Davonte Maez’s first year playing high school basketball. He has been a pleasant surprise as the team’s center with his natural athleticism, according to Filimoehala.

Juniors Willie Petersen, forward and post; Brandon Davies, forward and post; Lorenzo Dudley, point guard; and Tanner Lavender, point guard are also top scorers.

For the Lancers, team leadership has been a struggle. They had two wins against Clearfield and Cyprus at the beginning of the season, and then they lost their next six games.

“We have got some good athletes,” Granger boys basketball head coach Bernie Graziano said. “We do some good things, then we have someone miss practice and we can’t play him. The struggle this year is to change the mentality in the school to encourage the kids to work hard and find guys who really want to play.”

This is Graziano’s first year coaching Granger boys basketball. With a new coach comes new rules and discipline, which has been hard for some athletes to accept this year.

Senior, Isaiah Tademy was a strong leader at point guard and scored 22 points in the second game of the season against Cyprus Nov. 30. At the next game against Uintah on Dec. 6, he broke his hand. Tademny sat out the rest of December. He scored 14 points his first game back against Roy Jan. 6, but Roy took the win 57-43.

Other lead scorers are seniors Mo Valladolid, Taylor Pili and Zach Buchanan. The Lancers also have a promising freshman -- post Makol Mawien.

“Our leaders are the kids who are showing up,” Graziano said. “Things are coming together in the preseason, and we are beginning to find our identity now.”

Hunter opens Region 2 play Jan. 13 at Kearns. Granger opens Region 2 play Jan. 13 at Viewmont.