Last season was a struggle in region play for the Riverton boys basketball team, but that isn’t deterring the Silverwolves from working hard and improving this time around. 

Riverton was winless in its 10 Region 2 contests a season ago in a challenging league. The Silverwolves were also 8-17 overall. Some squads might have some pessimism coming into a new season, but Riverton players have approached this campaign with positive attitudes and a strong work ethic. 

Second-year head coach Lance Gummersall likes what he has seen so far from his players’ unity and camaraderie. 

“We like that we have a group of players who want to play hard and play for each other,” Gummersall said. “They really want to make the right play on the court as much as possible. This allows them to trust each other more and more each day we get to practice or play games.”

The Silverwolves started the season with a 1-4 record five games into the schedule. But Gummersall has been impressed with the team’s resolve and mentally tough mindset. Even when things aren’t going the team’s way, the players don’t hang their heads and resign themselves to a loss. There hasn’t been a lack of effort from anyone on the team, Gummersall said. 

“Our team's strength is that they don’t quit, no matter what the situation,” he said. “We have done a lot of good things going after offensive rebounds every single possession, which has given us a lot of extra shot attempts.”

Riverton’s season began with four defeats, two of which were by just three points. The Silverwolves haven’t lined up the schedule with a bunch of no-name foes either. Riverton fell to defending Class 5A state champion and perennial power Olympus on Dec. 10. The Silverwolves also took on traditionally tough opponent Alta and also lost to Cottonwood and Skyridge to open the year. 

Gummersall wasn’t afraid to schedule a formidable group of foes. He hopes the rigors of the non-region season will get the team ready for region play and the postseason. 

“We have an extremely tough non-region schedule that we are hoping will prepare us for our region schedule and then the state tournament,” he said. “We have the mindset that if we want to be better, we need to compete against some of the best competition. The challenge will be in gaining confidence while playing against some of these tough teams.”

On Dec. 12, Riverton picked up win No. 1 with a 77-68 victory over Hillcrest on the road. The Silverwolves scored 31 points in a wild fourth quarter where Hillcrest tallied 29 points of their own. 

Despite going winless in region play last season, Gummersall isn’t backing down from setting lofty goals for his team. He believes the Silverwolves can bounce back this season and have a year much more like 2023–24—the season before he arrived—when Riverton went 17-8. Gummersall hopes his club will not only be a factor in the region race but can turn some heads at the 6A state tournament. 

“Our goal is to put ourselves in a position to make it to the final eight teams that get to play at the University of Utah in February,” he said. “Once we get there, we will do everything we can to play as deep into the state tournament as possible. Accomplishing our goal of getting to the University of Utah would make this season a huge success. But also seeing players learn the core values of our program and being able to apply them to their daily life is a huge success of any program. That is a big part of the success of any program, in my opinion.”

A trio of seniors and a talented junior lead Riverton’s attack. Gummersall appreciates the leadership and production he gets from these four players. Senior guard Beckam Rees, senior forward Trey Applegarth, senior forward Cohen Allred and junior guard Carter Milbourn are examples and strong players who give it their all every game. 

Rees has been on fire this season, averaging 22 points through five games. Rees hits 3.2 three-pointers a game and also totals 3.8 rebounds and 3.4 assists an outing. He scored 31 points at Alta on Dec. 5 and had 20 points on three other occasions. In the game at Alta, he also pulled down 10 rebounds and had six assists in a tremendous outing. 

Another great showing so far in the early going has come from Allred, who scored 14.4 points a game through Dec. 13. His season-high up to this point was against Olympus when he poured in 22 points. Then there’s Applegarth, who scores 8.2 points and dishes out an impressive 9.2 rebounds a game. Milbourn scores 9.4 points a contest. 

Gummersall wants to see the team hit a higher percentage of shots. He said plenty of time is going into improving on this aspect of the game.