Pali’s boys basketball team had quite an eventful 2015-16 year; not only on the court, but off   as well. From the varsity coach quitting to most of the seniors walking away because of their friend not making the team, it wasn’t exactly smooth sailing. Last year, the varsity team went 12-17, the school’s worst record in more than a decade.

Speaking with Nick Kerkorian, a junior who’s been on varsity all three of his years at Pali, it’s apparent that they’ll be looking to return to their usual high standards.

“I think this team can be really good if we stay focused, disciplined and continue to work hard this season,” he said. “We obviously want to win as many games as possible, but our goal last year was to win city (City Championship) and I think that’s a good goal to have this year.”

Nick also gave some insight into how practices are run.

“Our practices run Monday through Friday, usually from 2:15 to 5:30. After we warm up and stretch, we go over all of our different offensive and defensive sets. After this, we do some individual skill work. We usually have about 40 minutes left in practice after the skill work which we spend scrimmaging.”

When asked about varsity coach Donzell Hayes, Nick had nothing but positive things to say.

“Coach Hayes is pretty laid back compared to other coaches,” he said. “He won’t yell at us for mistakes we make. Instead, he will try to teach us by walking through what we did wrong. He definitely gets the best out of his players, so I think his coaching style is very effective.”

He also says coach Donzell Hayes’ experience playing the game at a high level (Southwestern Oklahoma State University) gives Pali an advantage over other schools.

“Our coaches played at a high level during their playing careers. They know what it’s like to be playing in a close game, so they are able to prepare us for those situations.”

Upon being asked who the funniest and hardest working member of the team is, he wasn’t quite sure what to say.

“That’s a tough question. We’ve definitely got a lot of personalities on the team, but two of our funniest guys would probably be Dayne Downey and Daniel Emein. When it comes to hardest worker, I think all of us work pretty hard, so it’s going to have to be a tie there.”

With the season rapidly approaching, the varsity, junior varsity and freshman/sophomore teams have been announced. Currently the rosters consist of:

Varsity: Chris Kurihara, Zack Lynch, Dayne Downey, Diego Malcyznski, Daniel Emein, Dylan Griffin, Teddy Suisman, Avi Massaband, Michael Spencer, Anthony Spencer, Kevin Eng, Jeron Artest, Nick Kerkorian, Jackson Chmara

Junior Varsity: Dean Phillips, Ariya Vahdani, John Hartwell, Ryan Hinton, Joe Meyerson, Ariel Cohen, Richard Henostroza, Adel Dibaei, Cole Jacobs, Saam Martin, Nima Rafie, Serge Ureta, Jeremy Asheghian, Tyson Gouche, Lincoln Bellamy, Evan Phillips

Freshman/Sophomore: Sheldon Zanders, Nick Nichols, Francis Gianotti, Keyshawn Parks, Dominic Walker, Ethan Luckenbill, Graham Alphson, Taylor Randerson, Jaden Shorter, Taj Woods, Jack Ciarlo, Caden Arnold, Parker Roth, Christian Duran, Connor Asawa