{"id":21521,"date":"2020-02-20T16:09:00","date_gmt":"2020-02-20T23:09:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.skyhinews.com\/news\/middle-park-looks-to-playoffs\/"},"modified":"2020-02-20T16:09:00","modified_gmt":"2020-02-20T23:09:00","slug":"middle-park-looks-to-playoffs","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/krky\/local-news\/middle-park-looks-to-playoffs\/","title":{"rendered":"Middle Park looks to playoffs"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n
Middle Park sophomore Seth Holestine dunks during a boys basketball game vs. Sheridan on Tuesday. It was senior night for the Panthers, who won the game 66-49 at home.<\/strong>
Eli Pace \/ epace@skyhinews.com<\/em><\/figcaption><\/div>\n<\/figure>\n

The Middle Park boys basketball team will miss its seven seniors dearly, but they aren\u2019t gone yet.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s definitely fitting,\u201d coach Todd Williams said of the synopsis. \u201cI\u2019m happy with our regular season. Now we need to keep it up in the district tournament.\u201d<\/p>\n

The team closed out its regular season on Tuesday, senior night, with a 66-49 win over Sheridan at home. The game came with a handful of heartfelt moments and the team\u2019s seniors were introduced with their families before tipoff.<\/p>\n

At 13-4 overall and 9-2 in Frontier League play, this won\u2019t be the last time we see the Panthers potent squad in action, though. With its record, Middle Park has earned the right to host a district playoff game next week. Its opponent will be determined by this weekend\u2019s pigtail games.<\/p>\n

Looking down the team\u2019s lineup, the seven seniors standout. Of course, there are twin brothers Alec and Evan Laraby. Throughout the year, they\u2019ve anchored the program as two of the team\u2019s top producers. Both can drive the hoop, play strong defense and they\u2019re especially sharp from 3-point range.<\/p>\n

Williams revealed there\u2019s a running contest among the team to see which Laraby ends up shooting the first 3 each game, but ask the coach who\u2019s more accurate of the two and he quickly moves onto the next question.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m going to stay out of that one,\u201d Williams said. \u201cBut you know what, those two guys love basketball and they\u2019ve put so much time into it, even before this year \u2026 they\u2019ve been great to coach.\u201d<\/p>\n

Another leader for the Panthers has been senior Gabe Loberg, who\u2019s battled for critical rebounds, hit shots from inside and outside and been a strong presence in the paint this year. Williams agreed Loberg does a lot of the team\u2019s physical work, but the coach said Loberg\u2019s leadership qualities extend well off the court.<\/p>\n

\u201cEven from the summer, the way he carries himself, he\u2019s been a great leader for us,\u201d Williams said.<\/p>\n

Senior Jacob Smith has continued to emerge as a scoring threat for the Panthers, and he also knocks down a lot of 3s. More than that, Williams pointed out that Smith ranks in top four on the team in almost every category because \u201che contributes in all aspects of the game.\u201d<\/p>\n

Another senior, Akram Hanna, has become the team\u2019s shutdown defender tasked with guarding opponents\u2019 best perimeter players. What people might not see on the court, Williams said, is the light-hearted, fun attitude Hanna brings to the team, including at practice and during long bus rides.<\/p>\n

Two seniors who haven\u2019t gotten as much game time but have been important to the team nonetheless are Rudy Riplinger and Camedon Burns. Their strong work ethic and ability to push the players around them have made both of them great assets for the Panthers this year, Williams said.<\/p>\n

\u201c(Rudy) has been important in practices getting guys ready, and he\u2019s been a great addition to the program,\u201d Williams said. \u201c(Burns) is one of those kids who goes to work every day and has a great attitude. He\u2019s been a great player for us.\u201d<\/p>\n

Fans will see the Panthers back in action at 7:30 p.m. Tuesday after the girls team hosts its district playoff game at 6 o\u2019clock.<\/p>\n

via:: Sky-Hi News<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Middle Park sophomore Seth Holestine dunks during a boys basketball game vs. Sheridan on Tuesday. It was senior night for the Panthers, who won the game 66-49 at home.Eli Pace \/ epace@skyhinews.com The Middle Park boys basketball team will miss its seven seniors dearly, but they aren\u2019t gone yet. \u201cThat\u2019s definitely fitting,\u201d coach Todd Williams […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[56],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-21521","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-local-news"},"acf":[],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-06-18 14:23:13","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"distributor_meta":false,"distributor_terms":false,"distributor_media":false,"distributor_original_site_name":"KRKY Ski Country","distributor_original_site_url":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/krky","push-errors":false,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/krky\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21521","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/krky\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/krky\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/krky\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/krky\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=21521"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/krky\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21521\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/krky\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=21521"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/krky\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=21521"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/krky\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=21521"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}