Bingham’s boys basketball team has provided the student body with a compelling season. Students have gathered week by week to cheer on the Miners as they play against some of the most challenging teams in the state. Without a single easy game in our region, the Bingham Boys have been able to win several games and come out as some of the best in the 6A division.

The Boys Basketball Team started the season strong at the beginning of December, winning the first four of their games. But their streak faltered after losing by just 7 points to American Fork. Standing now at 10-8, the Miners are ranked 13th in the state and 8th in Utah’s 6A division according to MaxPreps. Varsity player Zach Rhodes commented on their season record by saying, “We’ve lost some games we shouldn’t have.”

According to varsity player Jake Cragun, one of Bingham’s biggest weaknesses is their height. “We’re going up against guys that are 7 feet tall when our tallest guy is only 6’4” Cragun explained. A difference in height can be the determining factor between two evenly matched teams and can make difficult opponents even harder to face. But it also makes the victories against the tall teams even sweeter.

Another factor in Bingham’s balanced win and lose ratio is the difficulty of our region. The 4th region consists of: Bingham, Lone Peak, Pleasant Grove, West Lake, American Fork, Pioneer, and American Heritage. Meaning the teams Bingham is regularly playing against are some of the best teams in the division, if not the state. Four of the teams in our division (West Lake, American Fork and Pleasant Grove, and Lone Peak) are among the top ten in the state.

Bingham has managed to hold their own against these difficult opponents, with their largest score deficit being only eleven points which happened when playing against American Fork and Lone Peak. Cragun said, “none of the challenges are an excuse, because we know we can play better than we are.”

This optimistic attitude is just some of what has brought Bingham to so many victories this season. What the boys basketball team lacks in height they make up for in what Cragun describes as a “brotherhood.” Bingham’s current team has played together for the past four or five years, creating a tight knit team. According to Rhodes, it’s this bond that allows the miners to play as well as they do; he said, “we know each other’s strengths and weaknesses, we’re more than teammates.”

Looking ahead the basketball team has some simple goals to achieve: “game to game basis, [the goal] is to play as hard as we can, night in and night out.” Rhodes said. With making the state playoffs in mind, the Bingham Basketball Team is looking to power their way through the last few games of the regular season to get to state, and in Cragun’s words, “do some damage when we get there.”

With games so close and opponents so difficult, this season of Bingham’s Boys Basketball has been anything but boring. Playoffs are coming up quick and whether or not we make it to state, Bingham promises to leave it all on the court. So in the words of Zach Rhodes, “stay tuned.”