Could this be the year that the Bingham Miners have their breakthrough? 

Olympus went into the game Dec. 3 as the defending 5A champions, but the Miners let the Titans know that there was a new sheriff in town—and his name was Bingham High School. 

The Miners led 12-5 after one quarter, and 23-13 after two before Olympus woke up and realized there was an actual game being played in their gymnasium. The Titans took a three-point lead to the sideline after three quarters, but the Miners were not there to do some sightseeing; they sent the game into overtime, where Olympus only won 59-56 by splashing a three as the buzzer sounded. 

Head coach Kyle Straatman has been suggesting this day, this season may come soon—he didn’t know precisely when all the lights would go on in the Bingham
Miner house. 

After three years in which kids like senior Luke West and junior guard Parker Snedaker collected elbows from bigger, faster opponents after having put up extra shots in the auxiliary gym during the wee hours of the morning, the Miners have been avenging those losses during the first five of their six games of the season. 

At West Jordan in the season opener Nov. 20, Bingham [6-1 at press time] got more than five points apiece from nine different players. The Miners stormed ahead with a 30-7 first quarter lead, increasing it slightly to 49-15 by halftime and set their drill to neutral as they coasted to an eye-popping 82-32 win. The craziest part of all? No Bingham player scored more than 14 points in the victory. The Miners only rained down six total threes, but hauled in 37 rebounds, dished out 19 assists, robbed 27 dribblers [steals], and a partridge in a pear tree. 

This 14-point rule continued back at home against Westlake Nov. 22, as seven Miners players scored seven or more points. They carried a six-point lead into the locker room at 29-23 and doubled that in the second half in a 65-53 victory. Led by West with 14 points, Bingham drilled 11 threes, had 26 rebounds, doled out 16 assists and pickpocketed 14 Thunder players. 

Back on the road at East Nov. 27, Snedaker broke the 14-point mold by scoring 18 and having eight rebounds. The Miners held a talented Leopards squad to 16 first half points, scored 45 of their own by halftime and rolled to a 76-45 win. Senior Jason Peterson added 14 points and West, 13. Bingham again filled the stat sheet with rebounds, assists and steals. 

Using a similar formula, the Miners outlasted Davis by the final score of 73-72 on Dec. 4 at The Pit, thumped Pleasant Grove 75-62 at their place on Dec. 6 and got past Fremont 56-51 Dec. 10 in their most
recent game.  

For this Bingham team that sits at 6-1 (at press time) and is about as unselfish as any high school team has been in recent history, they’ll have also played in the weeklong Tarkanian Classic in Las Vegas by the time you read this. 

The Miners are led by West, who is averaging 17 points per game. Snedaker is scoring the basketball at an 11-points-per-game clip while Peterson is at 10 per outing. 

West is Bingham’s top marksman from behind the arc, averaging two threes per game. Senior Ayden Larsen is next, at 1.5 per game. Peterson, Snedaker and West are all hauling in four rebounds per contest, while no fewer than eight guys are averaging one assist or more per outing. 

In terms of pickpockets, Bingham has West and Snedaker leading the team in steals at three per game—but the surprise here is that you have five guys averaging one or more in each of the seven contests
they’ve played. 

This sort of balance and depth could really pay off for a Miners team that will continue to play preseason games through December and into January before Region 2 play begins in mid-January. λ