Construction is almost complete

The Clark Fork boys basketball team is in a state of renaissance.

The Wampus Cats won 12 games this season, which is the most they’ve had in a regular season for over a decade. In fact, Clark Fork has only won 11 games combined over the previous four seasons..

Clark Fork’s season came to an end after it lost its state play-in game against Timberline 65-61, on Feb. 26.

In its game against the Spartans, Clark Fork and Timberline traded blows back and forth. It was a game where both teams deserved a spot at the state tournament, according to head coach Heath Beason.

“The part that crushed me was how well prepared the kids were,” Beason said. “I tip my hat to Timberline, they played a heck of a game, but if you look at the book, we were right there the whole game.”

Its loss to Timberline snapped Clark Fork’s nine-game winning streak.

“I take full responsibility for that loss,” Beason said. “I told the kids after the game, if you want to be mad, be mad at me. I’m going to work hard next year to get us to where we need to be.”

Clark Fork will begin its run at redemption in 2023 without its two team leaders, Carter Sanroman and Sam Barnett.

The Wampus Cats have a young core that will be back next season, but filling those spots is going to be tough, according to Beason. Not only for what they did on the court, but how they led the team off the court as well.

“The dedication of (Sam) Barnett is irreplaceable,” Beason said. “Carter has an instinct for where the ball is going to go and he was always there on defense.”

Barnett, who won league MVP, has been talked about highly by all of his coaches in all of the sports he plays. For Beason, he said, it comes down to how well he listens and applies what he learned onto the court.

“He studies what you want him to do,” Beason said. “He likes to communicate and get people in the right position. He shows by example, he doesn’t always have to speak.”

The Wampus Cats will have some bodies back for 2023, most of which went through the drought it had at the beginning of the season where they started off 3-6.

“We had some young players coming in just trying to get into the swing of things,” Beason said. “We only had our two seniors that had been with me for the four years and we struggled for a little bit. But after Winter break we hit it, and we hit it hard.”

Its young team already went through the transitional phase of playing varsity basketball, coming back in 2023 should be an easier transition.

After Clark Fork finished its regular season, it didn’t play a game for a month.

It showed some rust in its championship game against Mullan, but quickly shook it off to win the game 61-46.

Conditioning was never a factor in that time period, with Beason stating he had the kids run up and down the court daily.

The problem during the hiatus was keeping the kids engaged.

“It was hard to keep them fighting and upbeat in practice,” Beason said. “You can only go up against your own for so long.”

Clark Fork ended its season 12-7, its best record since 2007.

The success of the program has resulted in more numbers on the team. Which was Beason’s goal when he accepted the job.

“I wanted to slowly build a program in a positive way,” Beason said. “I want them to love playing basketball. We barely had five kids on the team my first year, this year, we had 20 kids come out.”

“I want the kids to enjoy playing and have a good time. It brings back the fun and competition on a friendly level and a high level.”