Billygoats basketball rebuilds after loss of five seniors

PATEROS – The Billygoats varsity basketball team lost five seniors - Dakota Poole, Armando Rojas, Jorge Flores, Preston Garcia, and Connor Hernandez - to graduation last June, and with one senior on this season’s roster, it’s a building year for coach Marcus Stennes.
Senior Logan Robinson, juniors Tag Easter, Andrew Gonzalez, San Larsen, and Jeremy Piechalski, sophomores Ivan Ceniceros and Ethan Freels and freshman Ethan Wall form the core of returning players this season.
The junior varsity roster includes juniors Omar Mota, Zane Dodge, Alex Vargas, Max Ewing, Osvaldo Anaya, and Jesus Mota, sophomore Scott Moore, and freshmen Lucas Miller, Aiden Hall, Miguel Solis, and Damien Vargas.
Stennes, a 2002 Pateros graduate, is coaching his sixth year of basketball. His assistant is Jesse Villalobos. The team manager is Hudson Freels.
Pateros had a 14-6 overall record last season, winning six of 10 at home and eight of 10 on the road. They defeated Riverside Christian in the first round of 1B Central Washington District play but lost to Entiat.
Pateros opened its season on the road at Toppenish last Thursday, Nov. 30, with a non-league game against a powerful Yakima Tribal team. Despite a 32-point output – half of the Billygoats’ scoring -  by Freels, the Eagles sent Pateros packing with an 87-61 loss.
“We played a state caliber team that is very good” said Stennes. “We got down the first half by 30 because we didn’t come out ready to go and they took advantage of that.”
Pateros shot a cold six for 33 from the floor in the first half.
“(The Eagles) were able to take advantage of those misses in transition with us not getting back and they were able to get easy buckets,” said Stennes. “This was a good learning experience for us to go to an environment like that and play a state caliber team.”.
Pateros was scheduled to play the Eagles at Soap Lake on Tuesday, Dec. 5, and will host Moses Lake Christian at 7:30 p.m. Thursday, Dec. 7.   
Pateros 10    21     43           61
Yakima
Tribal    24  51      74           87
Stats
Ivan Ceniceros - 4 points, 9 rebounds
Tag Easter - 2 pts, 1 steal
Andrew Gonzalez - 8 pts
Jeremy Piechalski - 6 pts
Logan Robinson - 2 pts,
2 reb
Ethan Wall - 7 pts
Ethan Freels - 32 pts