OGDEN — Former BYU assistant and current Portland State basketball coach Heath Schroyer is having a season to remember.
Or forget.
Schroyer, in his first season as a Division 1-A head coach for the Vikings, has lost players to season-ending injuries and had players quit on him. On Thursday night, his Vikings play at Weber State at 7:05 p.m.
Injuries were first to wreck Schroyer's roster. Forward Seamus Boxley, the Big Sky's freshman of the year two seasons ago, injured his hand and was lost for the year. Forward Marshal Hartman showed early promise as he scored 21 points against UNLV. But he hurt his knee and was also lost for the year.
"It's obviously been very challenging," Schroyer said. "You never go into a season anticipating the kind of adversity that we've had."
After Boxley and Hartman were lost for the year, starting guard Troy DeVries quit the team as did forward Ben Coffee, who was playing key minutes. The Vikings were down to eight players on the roster at one point of the season before a couple of football players joined the team.
"(The adversity) has made this team better and the staff better," Schroyer said. "We've learned a lot about ourselves."
The Vikings will probably continue to learn more about themselves when they play against the Wildcats on Thursday night. But Weber State will have to be careful to not look past Portland State, as the Wildcats will take on Eastern Washington for sole possession of first place in the Big Sky at the Dee Events Center on Saturday night. That is, if both teams win their Thursday games.
"There is already a lot of hullabaloo about Saturday's game, but the old cliche really is true — we're taking it one game at a time," Weber State basketball coach Joe Cravens said.
Portland State has also been taking its season one game at a time and have a respectable 2-3 conference record. The Vikings are the third best defensive team in the Big Sky, which is a big accomplishment for a team that's been through a lot of turmoil this season.
"We're still in the thick of things (for the Big Sky tournament)," Schroyer said. "We've dealt with a lot of sins from the past in this program, but we've continued to get better and the future is bright is here."
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