Below is an alphabetical, team-by-team look at area high school boys basketball teams in 5A Region 5.

The region grows from six teams to eight this year, with the additional of Roy and Clearfield.

Four of the eight region teams have new head coaches. Region games begin Jan. 3 and are on Wednesdays and Fridays.

BONNEVILLE

Bonneville went 6-15 last year, lost its final seven games of the year and missed the playoffs, a rarity for the Lakers’ program these days.

The Lakers bring back starters Nick Sebahar and Ben Tesch, and Zac Combe off the bench, but graduated double-digit scorers Bo Dixon (point guard) and Nathan Burdett.

Some of the new players in the mix are seniors Hayden Ashbridge and Landon Schmitt, and sophomores Davis DeGroot and Jackson Call. Tesch was third on the team in scoring last season and Sebahar was fifth.

Lack of size and rebounding are some of the team’s biggest challenges, according to head coach Kyle Bullinger, though Tesch and Sebahar had double-digit boards in last week’s overtime loss to Sky View.

Bonneville is 1-1 so far and will face four teams from Region 1 as well as Ogden (Dec. 20 at home) in non-region play.

BOX ELDER

Box Elder tapped longtime college coach Russ Beck as its new boys basketball coach in May, replacing Jace McKee, who’s now in school administration. The Bees went 14-9 last year and 6-4 in Region 5 with a senior-heavy group and lost in the second round of the playoffs.

They return two-year starter Elijah Kersey, a tough-playing guard who averaged 11.9 points per game last year and 13.2 per game as a sophomore. Off the bench, they bring back senior post Max Isaacson (4.4 points, 2.4 rebounds) and senior wing Trevor Wilkinson.

“Chemistry is our biggest strength. Our kids like each other,” Beck said.

The main hurdles have to do with learning a new coach’s style and new offensive and defensive systems. In the spring, Beck said he’s typically a positionless basketball coach who likes to go man-to-man on defense. His college teams ranked high in free-throw attempts and makes, as well.

The Bees’ non-region schedule is tough. They have a 73-55 loss to Weber on the cards already and will face Sky View and Olympus before seeing Davis, Fremont and Syracuse in the Davis High tournament.

CLEARFIELD

Clearfield went 7-15 last season and 1-11 in 6A Region 1, losing to Pleasant Grove in the first round of the 6A playoffs in Scott McLaughlin’s first year as head coach.

This year, the Falcons move into 5A Region 5 after years as a Region 1 mainstay. They went 1-2 last year against teams currently in Region 5.

Clearfield graduated three of its top five scorers from last year’s team. So far, it’s 1-0 with a 70-67 overtime win over Mountain Crest. The Falcons have four Region 1 teams on the non-region schedule along with two more Region 11 teams.

Information about this year’s team was requested but not provided.

NORTHRIDGE

Northridge went 10-12 last year and lost a close first-round playoff game to Skyline. But it’s how the Knights finished that caught people’s attention and has them looked at as a potential top-half team, if not outright region-title contender, in Region 5.

They won five of their final seven games of last season, coinciding with some lineup changes, and now bring back four starters this year along with two bench players, making it six of the top seven scorers who return.

The returning starters are senior point guard Bentley Whitear (12.9 points, 4.2 rebounds, 3.2 assists), senior post De’Qoune Kennedy (10.7 points, 6.2 rebounds), senior guard Logan Birt (9.0 points, 4.8 rebounds) and senior forward Josh Kitchen (5.0 points, 3.0 rebounds).

Senior guard Peyton Perkins and junior guard Cael Lake should have increased roles this year.

“Our strengths are our experience and our quickness on the defensive end of the floor,” head coach Andrew Olson said.

“The biggest hurdle facing our team will be our ability to consistently make outside (shots) and stay healthy. We have a very experienced (senior) group but a very inexperienced group of underclassmen.”

Northridge is 0-2 in the early season with contrasting games. The Knights trailed by 11 points going to the fourth quarter of their opening loss to Hillcrest, then blew a 14-point third-quarter lead in an overtime loss at Fremont.

They have more tough games on the non-region schedule, among them Layton (Dec. 1 at home), Provo (Dec. 5 at home) and Weber (Dec. 19 at home).

ROY

After two years in 6A Region 2, Roy is back in its ideal landing spot of 5A Region 5. The Royals are coming off a 15-10 season and a second-place finish in Region 2, behind last year’s state semifinalist Cyprus team. They were 2-1 against teams now in Region 5.

Ryan Hannah, an assistant coach last year under Scott Hunt, takes over as head coach as Hunt left to take the Morgan High head job.

Roy graduated three of its top four scorers, including Standard-Examiner Player of the Year Elijah Sowards, and lost Jonny Alcaraz to transfer. The Royals do return senior starting guards Bronson Belnap and Corben Schuffenhauer, along with bench players Daxton Warren, Isaac Burnett, Colby Frokjer and Dahlen Pontius.

“Our speed is one of our team’s strengths. We have guys that can fly down the court, that can handle the ball well, and that can score well in transition. Shooting is another strength in our program. There are several players on the team that are capable of scoring big on any given night,” Hannah said.

Inexperience is an issue. Apart from Belnap and Schuffenhauer, everyone else has little varsity experience.

Roy, which is 1-1 so far, has just three non-region home games: Dec. 8 against Mountain Crest, Dec. 20 against Ben Lomond and Dec. 29 against Weber. Otherwise, the Royals are on the road, including a tournament in Preston, Idaho, from Dec. 14-16.

AROUND THE REGION

Bountiful and Viewmont have new head coaches after longtime coaches Mike Maxwell and Jeff Emery retired from coaching at the end of last season.

Travis Frey, who was a Davis assistant the last few years, takes over at his alma mater Viewmont, while Gus Sopeña, a former Timpview assistant, is at Bountiful.

Bountiful both graduated some of its best players and returns some of its best players from a 9-14 team, is a fast-paced, high-scoring team and is expected to be one of the Region 5 favorites.

Viewmont is more of a mixed bag, as it returns little following a 9-15 season. Woods Cross won the region by three games last year over a pack of four teams but graduated its best players.

AROUND THE STATE

Alta beat Timpview in last year’s title game and returns its top three scorers, including 6-foot-8 Utah-signed forward Jaxon Johnson.

Alta, Timpview and perennial contender Olympus, led by Utah State-bound point guard Jordan Barnes, are expected to be the main state championship contenders.

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