Boys’ basketball: Senior-heavy Ponderosa team puts Shingle Springs on the map

With all the noise coming from the typically recognized Sacramento-area prep basketball courts, it might be hard to hear the rumblings coming from a certain gym “up in the sticks.”

It might not be long, however, before boys’ basketball followers take note of the Ponderosa Bruins up Highway 50 in Shingle Springs.

The Bee’s No. 13 team in its latest boys’ basketball rankings, Ponderosa leaped four spots from the previous week after a 5-0 start to the 2021-22 campaign. The Bruins earned their fifth straight win Wednesday night at Vista del Lago, 71-46, to match the school’s best start since the 2007-08 season.

“We’re just a school up in the sticks, but we’re gonna surprise a lot of people who don’t really know where Shingle Springs is,” coach Clark Woods said. “We’re definitely looking to put Ponderosa on the map.”

Pondo has a bevy of experienced players who can fill up a stat sheet. With a nice mix of size, speed, shooting and smarts, the Bruins return seven players from last spring’s 7-1 squad, including seniors Nick Von Zboray, Casen Chaney, Nate Tudor and Aaron Bliss.

In Wednesday’s win, Chaney flirted with a triple-double with 12 points, 14 rebounds and eight assists. Tudor led the way with 20 points, Von Zboray had 19 and Bliss added eight points, 10 rebounds, four blocks and a crowd-silencing alley-oop dunk in the fourth quarter.

“We’ve been playing with each other for at least four years and we just run the floor very well,” Chaney said. “We’re a high-tempo team, and a lot of teams just can’t keep up with us.”

Last year’s leading scorer, the sharp-shooting Von Zboray has already boosted his scoring average by nearly seven points at 23.2 points per game. He dropped a career-high 32 points Monday against El Dorado after being named the MVP of the Jack Scott Tournament at Rio Americano last weekend.

Woods is high on Bliss, the 6-foot-9, 205-pound center averaging 16.8 points, 12.4 rebounds and 3.8 blocks per game. Woods says Bliss is “a legit Division I prospect.”

“He’s definitely coming out of his shell,” Woods said of Bliss. “He had his coming-out party in an Arizona tournament over the summer. The player he wants to be is there for the taking after the summer he had. He knows how important this season is for him to go after everything he wants.”

Chaney, the Bruins’ point guard, can do a bit of everything. He can score (15.8 points per game), rebound (9.6), pass (6.4 assists) and defend (3.0 steals). Chaney joined Von Zboray and Bliss on the Jack Scott All-Tournament Team.

Tudor rounds out the senior foursome averaging double-digits for the Bruins. His season-high Wednesday put him at 12.6 points per game for the young season.

“The secret, pretty much, is just playing as a team and obviously looking for our big boy inside first,” Chaney said. “There are a lot of teams that don’t have the size like we do. So we look there first, and then we have a lot of shooters around him. We just make shots and play together and play team basketball.”

Pondo’s defense has progressively improved with each game thus far. The Bruins leapfrogged Woodcreek and Granite Bay in the Bee’s rankings after respective wins of eight and 15 points against the Timberwolves and Grizzlies. Pondo then downed Oak Ridge in the Jack Scott title game by 25 points before beating El Dorado on Monday with a season-best 43 points allowed and a 36-point margin of victory.

“We just outwork as many teams as we can play,” Bliss said. “That’s just how we play. That’s Ponderosa basketball, right there.”

Woods credits the chemistry and relationships his players have with one another off the court for their early success. The Bruins look to sustain this run into Foothill Valley League play against the likes of Placer, Oakmont, Rio Linda, Nevada Union, Lincoln and newcomer West Park.

“They’re friends off the court, and that establishes the ability to play well with each other and hold each other accountable without any distractions,” Woods said. “Nobody takes anything personal. It helps us stick together through ups and downs, and we’re starting to reap the benefits.”

Ponderosa (5-0) next plays Saturday at No. 12 Whitney. Foothill Valley League play begins Jan. 6 at Oakmont.

This story was originally published December 9, 2021 at 8:21 AM.