ALBERTON – Despite a hard season, the Alberton Panthers had a number of strong players who performed well on the court. Senior Keir Sanzano came in as one of the top ranked players on the team.

Throughout this season, Sanzano came in second on the statistic charts for the Panthers basketball team. He was the second highest scorer of the team and brought in a season total of 128 points.

Even with these statistics, Sanzano was rarely one of the front-runners of the game. He was usually a guard and kept the other team from making baskets.

Sanzano had no secret for being one of the best players on the team. He felt he was near the top because he had been on the team longer than some of the other players.

At the start of the season, the team only had eight players with four freshmen and four seniors. They later brought in two eighth graders to bolster their ranks and give the team more of a presence on the bench. With so many younger players, the older athletes wound up becoming mentors as well as teammates. During the season, Sanzano would often try to help out the younger players and give them advice about the game.

He would give helpful tips and recommendations about how to signal someone to pass the ball or mistakes to avoid during a hard play. He gave the advice because he remembered his own experiences as a young player and felt it would be valuable to players just starting out.

Sanzano started playing for Alberton when he was in eighth grade himself. In the past, he did not play as often as he did this year. He has also seen lots of improvement in himself since he started on the basketball team. He used to have problems on the court, could not dribble well and would often hit his own foot with the ball, sending it flying out of bounds.

“When I first started I could barely play the game, I barely knew the rules,” Sanzano said. “I didn’t know what to do a lot of the time. It took the whole five years to figure it out.”

Now, he has more experience and has become a better player as a result. In the games this season, he could see better shooting opportunities as well as openings to make passes and steals. He could also read the court better and get an idea of what all was going on.

“That’s what my experience has taught me,” Sanzano said. “I just played a lot better this year than in previous games.”

This season was not a very good one for Alberton. With a 0-20 season total, he felt it left much to be desired. Even facing such a hard season, he was confident and had a positive outlook on things.

“You sort of have to get through the hard times, keep on trucking, trying to find the light at the end of the tunnel even when you know one is not there,” Sanzano said.

After graduation, Sanzano plans to take a break before entering basic training for the Army Reserve. This way he can still go to school and have a job around his military career. After completing basic, he will go to Havre for college and study Diesel Technology.

He plans to play football during college, but will likely wait until after his first year. Sanzano said he wants to get the academic side of things figured out before joining the sports teams.