With November now over, we can officially say it’s high school basketball season. The Pequot Lakes boys basketball team is coming into this season with very high expectations after making it to the state tournament last year for the first time since 2007.

After finishing last season at 25-8 and advancing all the way to the state tournament before losing in the quarterfinal, the Patriots are ranked 8th in the state Class AA preseason rankings.

This is going to be a much different team this year as the Patriots will have to build almost a completely new starting five. Pequot Lakes lost four of their starting five from last year and are now relying on a new senior class with seven seniors in total.

The Patriots seem to all be on the same page this year that the biggest focus heading into the regular season has to be getting better defensively. While the biggest focus might be on the defensive side of the ball, the Patriots believe their strongest attribute comes from the perimeter where they have a lot of versatility when putting up shots.

“It might be the best shooting team I’ve had since I’ve been here,” said head coach Rich Spiczka. “You know, some nights it’s really fun to watch when we can shoot it, and other nights, it just doesn’t go in, that’s just part of shooting a three-ball. But I think our shooting is something we’re pretty excited about, we’re pretty athletic as well, so that should be pretty nice.”

The Patriots will kick off their first of 25 regular season games on Tuesday, Dec. 6 on the road at Pillager. Tip-off is scheduled for 7:15 p.m.

By — Ryan Bowler