With a 9-4 start to the season, the Owatonna Boys Basketball team have exceeded expectations from the beginning of the season. A little over halfway through the season, the team hopes to continue to impress and set themselves up for a successful season.

Head coach Josh Williams, has been able to lead the team to success thus far and is a major contributor to their progression. Part of that improvement has been the development of team chemistry and the ability for the team to work together.

“It’s the growth from the beginning of the year to now, and It’s been really fun to see the progress of our guys and the strides we’ve made,” Williams said.

“The team chemistry falls a lot on the guys and how they can get along, so when I look at the juniors and seniors this year, it seems like both off the court and on the court the relationships between them have been really good and that’s a credit to those guys more than anything.”

Captain and returning starter Blake Burmeister has been a huge part of the Huskies success on the court. After graduating a heavy senior class last year, the experience he gained has been able to help the younger players on the team.

“We’ve utilized some of our youth to come in and they’ve stepped up,” Burmeister said. “We just want to keep continuing to win but right now we need to focus on solidifying what we’re doing and becoming great at what we’re trying to get good at.”

For the rest of the season, the team would like to win the Big Nine. In order to do that they will need to keep improving. The team hopes to continue to succeed and have a good rest of the season.

The teams next game is Friday, Jan. 27 at 7:30 p.m. at the Owatonna High School vs. the Albert Lea Tigers.