With a 13-11 record last season (4-2 in the 3A Southwest Quadrant) the Mountain View High School boys’ hoops team had its first winning season on the hardwood in nearly a decade.

Now, with the 2019-20 season set to begin this week, the Buffalos will be looking to build on last year’s success.

“I thought we did a pretty good job last year,” Rees said. “We had our first winning record at Mountain View in the last 10 years, we just struggled at the regional tournament a little bit. We feel like this might be our time — this could be the year we make a run.”

The Buffalos only lost two seniors to graduation — 3A West All-Conference selection Trenton Wells and Colby Rees — though both will leave a void.

“We lost Colby and Trenton, and those are big shoes to fill,” Coach Rees said. “Trenton did a great job running the point and Colby was a tremendous shooter. But I think we’ll have a little bit more size and a little bit more length this year with our lineup. We’ll be a little different, but I think we’ll be better than last year.”

Mountain View returns five seniors, all with varsity experience: Braeden Walk (14.8 points, 3 rebounds per game) was an All-Conference and All-State selection last season, while Briggin Blumel (9 points, 7 rebounds per game) joined Walk on the 3A West All-Conference team. Kimball Madsen, Hunter Gross and Breckin Barnes round out the Buffalos’ senior contingent.

“I think Braeden [Walk] and Kimball [Madsen] and Briggin [Bluemel] have all started the last two years,” Rees said. “They’ll be the core of our experience. We’ll kind of run things through them.”

Juniors Ashton Schofield, Hunter Meeks and Luke Branson also return with varsity experience.

“Those three [Schofield, Meeks and Branson] are really looking good,” Rees said. “We’re about eight deep right now, so I think we’re in good shape.”

Mountain View will open the 2019-20 season this weekend, co-hosting the Bridger Valley Tournament with 3A West rival Lyman. The Buffalos are scheduled to play Kemmerer Thursday, followed by games against Cokeville and Wind River Friday and Farson Saturday.

“I think we’ll use this tournament to figure out how deep we are, which kids are ready to play at the varsity level,” Rees said. “We’ll give some younger kids the opportunity to prove themselves. Obviously we want to come in and compete and take care of Kemmerer Thursday night, then move on to the next game.”

With a talented group of returners, coupled with some promising up-and-comers, expect Mountain View to make some noise in the 3A West this season.

“I think we look really, really good, we have a veteran team — a lot of these kids have played varsity the last two or three years,” said MVHS head coach Dustin Rees. “I’m really excited about where we are right now.”