Independent file photo Lakeview’s Jarod Goepferich rises up for a jumper during their Jan. 31 game against Minneota.

COTTONWOOD – The Lakeview Lakers are coming off an up and down 2016-2017 season. The Lakers finished the regular season with an 11-13 record. It was a season in which the Lakers started out 7-3, before dropping four of their next five games. The Lakers went 2-6 in their final eight games and limped into the section tournament. In the opening round of the section tournament the Lakers fell to New London-Spicer 55-43.

“We are going to do our best to keep our focus to one game at a time,” Lakeview coach Jared Keaveny said. “Last year we got too far ahead of ourselves. We want to keep them focused on the task at hand.”

The Lakers graduated three starters from last year’s team. The two returning starters are seniors Jarod Goepferich and Tate Varpness. Goepferich and Varpness are two of seven seniors on the roster this year for the Lakers. The other five seniors on the roster are, Jon Wyffels, Kailen French, Nick Fenske, Conner Dopp and Tyson Merkins.

Goepferich returns as the team’s leading rebounder. Keaveny said that Goepferich brings a lot to the table for the Lakers.

“Jarod brings a lot of positives,” Keaveny said. “He can score, but he is also an outstanding rebounder. He also passes very well and is very unselfish.”

Varpness returns as the team’s leading scorer. Keaveny said when he gets rolling he’s difficult to stop.

“Tate is someone who can score in bunches when he gets rolling,” Keaveny said. “His ability to handle the ball creates a big mismatch for a lot of teams.”

The Lakers figure to create a lot of mismatch problems inside with their length. That size figures to be the strength of the team this season.

“Our strengths this year will definitely be our length,” Keaveny said. “We have some height which should create some mismatches.”

The Lakers are currently 1-1 and will be playing at home tonight against Russell-Tyler-Ruthton. They’ll play their first road game of the season on Dec. 18, in Minneota.