Scott Taylor leads conference, breaks school record in rebounds

Bigfork High School’s varsity boys basketball team isn’t having the most successful season in the school’s history, but senior post Scott Taylor is still managing to leave his mark.

Last Thursday night he set a new school record for most rebounds in a game, after grabbing 27 boards against Ronan.

“It’s exciting for him and for the team,” said Bigfork head boys basketball coach Lyle Whiteman. “He is a hard working kid and everyone really likes him, so it was a great thing for everyone to rally around him for. He really puts a big priority on improving so it’s a great thing to have had him do that.”

Taylor nearly broke the record twice earlier this season, which was previously held by Matt Emslie with 21 rebounds in a game during the 1996-1997 season. Taylor had 20 rebounds when the Vikings hosted Whitefish earlier this season and 20 at Flathead High School.

Taylor is also leading the Northwest A Conference in rebounding by a sizable margin, and he is continually one of the leading scorers for the team, but the road to the top was not an easy one.

Taylor started the season off in what he calls a slump, though he was usually one of the top three scorers and rebounders for his team each game.

“I was too tense and wasn’t playing my game,” Taylor said. “Now I try to relax more. I worked hard in practice and tried to get better to get out of my slump and I’ve been playing a lot better the last few weeks. I knew my team needed me to try to succeed.”

That work has paid off. He went from averaging 7.75 points during the first eight games of the season to averaging 11.75 points per game in the last eight games.

“He struggled at the beginning of the season offensively and somewhat defensively as well,” Whiteman said. “He has improved tremendously. His shooting has gotten much better and he’s playing better and better defense.”

Taylor credits his dad, Kirt, who is a former BHS boys basketball player, for helping him get out of his early season slump.

“He told me stuff I needed to improve  on and gave me tips about things I can work on. In the long run his advice always seems to work out,” Taylor said.

While the 6-5 post has been working on his shooting, he has kept his rebounding numbers steady all season, averaging 11.56 boards. Prior to this week’s games, he has made 88 offensive rebounds and 97 defensive rebounds for a total of 185 in 16 games. In comparison, his teammate Brock Boll is second in the conference at 7.75 boards per game and has grabbed 53 offensive rebounds and 71 defensive, a total of 124. Colt Idol, of Whitefish, is third with 31 offensive, 66 defensive, a total of 97 in 17 games, for an average of 5.71 boards per game.

“It’s a great accomplishment,” Taylor said. “It’s always been one of my strong points because of my height. I’ve never been a real strong scorer, but a lot my points come from offensive rebounds and making tip-ins. I get to help my team out in that aspect.”

Taylor is definitely an asset to the Vikings. Just last week he scored 36 points and grabbed 55 rebounds in three games.

“He is a big part of the reason we’ve stayed in a lot of the games this season against higher ranked teams,” Whiteman said.

This isn’t the first year Taylor has set his sights on working hard for his team. Last year he started the season on the junior varsity team and worked his way up to playing varsity. By the last few weeks of the season he was a starter for the varsity team.

“I worked hard in practice to get there,” Taylor said. “Whenever I got some varsity playing time I just tried to do my best and help my team out as much as possible.”

His hard work doesn’t go unnoticed by his coach this year either.

“He’s not a gifted basketball player in terms of natural ability, but he works very hard and it shows in how well he plays,” Whiteman said. “He doesn’t get down on himself when he does make mistakes. He just shakes it off and keeps working hard. He has a great attitude.”

Working hard on the court is something that Taylor has been doing since he was in elementary school playing on the Little Dribblers basketball team. Growing up he spent much of his free time playing backyard basketball with his older brother Luke, who also played basketball for Bigfork and was All-State in 2005.

“He always whooped up on me because he was always bigger than me, but we’ve always been really close,” Taylor said of his older brother, who he has surpassed in height by about three inches over the last couple of years.

The brothers still play some one-on-one when Luke is home from Montana State University, where Scott is hoping to join him next year.

“He still beats me, but I’m getting closer,” Taylor said.

Taylor is always looking for a way to improve his game, whether it be against his brother or playing for the Vikings.

“I’ve been trying to work on post plays and finishing because I’ve never been a great finisher, and I think I’ve been doing better at that,” he said. “I just try to go out and do the best I can and try to help my team get a win. Some days are better than others. I just shoot and if they go in, they go in. If they don’t, they don’t.”

Taylor’s laid back attitude has helped keep him positive despite his team’s 2-14 record this year.

BHS’s basketball team isn’t the only team that Taylor has been a part of during an unsuccessful season. He also played tight end on the varsity football team in the fall. Although the team didn’t win any games, Taylor, who was one of the team captains, was put on the honorable mention list for the All-Conference team.

“I always strove to play my hardest and it was nice to get a reward at the end of the season for how hard I worked,” Taylor said.

Taylor was also on the football team his freshman year, but chose to play golf his sophomore and junior year instead. He said that he really enjoyed playing golf also, but doesn’t regret giving it up for football his senior year.

“I left football because I didn’t really enjoy it my freshmen year,” Taylor said. “So I thought I’d try golf because I played it when I was growing up. I decided to return to football my senior year because we got a new coach and everyone seemed to really like him. I had a lot of fun playing football this  year. It was a great experience.”

Taylor’s favorite sport’s season has yet to arrive though.

“Tennis is my favorite sport,” he said. “It just sort of clicked my freshman year.”

It is a sport that Taylor has also been steadily improving in. He played singles on the JV team his freshman year, and sophomore year narrowly missed going to state. Last year he and his doubles partner Tyler Butts, placed third at divisionals and fifth at state.

“Scott is a natural athlete, so he picked up tennis very quickly for a young man who has only been playing for three years,” said BHS tennis coach Matt Porrovecchio. “You add his size to the equation and he is a formidable presence on the tennis court. He has been a contributing member of the team since his first competition.”

Since his doubles partner from last year graduated, Taylor said that he will probably play singles this year. However, he may end up playing doubles and getting a new partner for the third year in a row, having been paired with a senior the last two years.

Now that it is about to be his turn to play in his final season, Taylor is excited and optimistic.

“It should be a pretty successful season,” he said. “It’s always been my best sport and the one I can win at. I’m hoping to make it to state playing singles, but I’ve never played singles on varsity so we’ll just see how that goes.”

Taylor has had the rare experience of getting to play both individual and team sports for many years, and although he loves the camaraderie he finds on a team, he is a little more fond of individual sports.

“I’ve always kind of liked individual sports because when you mess up it’s all your fault. No one else’s,” Taylor said. “I like to have the whole thing in my hands and be in control. I think that’s why I like tennis, because I like being in control.”

Although he has to give up some of that control to play team sports with his friends, Taylor has valued those experiences as well. The male athletes in his senior class value them too, and that, according to Taylor, is what keeps the boys of the class of 2009 working hard and staying committed even though they aren’t winning.

“The strong bond we’ve created throughout the four years of high school keeps us all from quitting,” Taylor said. “It gets stronger every year and we don’t want to let each other down. We just keep lifting each other up and helping each other through the struggles.”