Bruins finding ways to win

Starting a season with an 11-1 record and being ranked as the 19th best team in the nation would be more than most coaches could hope for. However, for the Salt Lake Community College men's basketball team it has been business as usual.

"We've jumped out to a good start," said SLCC coach Norm Parrish. "Ironically, though, we still aren't playing great basketball, but our team is finding ways to win."

Parrish, who is in his 16th year as coach of the Bruins, has quietly built a powerhouse junior college basketball program that has averaged more than 20 wins a season during his tenure.

"We have the same goal every year, which is to win our league regular season, win our league tournament and go to the NJCAA national championship tournament," said Parrish.

This season's team is led by sophomore All-American forward Gary Wilkinson of South Jordan. Wilkinson leads the team with a 15.8-point-per-game average while grabbing a team-high 7.1 rebounds.

"Gary is our emotional leader," said Parrish. "We are an inside-oriented team that is built around him. Gary is a dream athlete in that he's an academic all-American and an athletic all-American. He may be the only junior college kid in the country on both lists."

While Wilkinson may be the emotional leader on the floor, the team's success has revolved around the play at the point guard position.

Freshmen Dathan Lyles of Columbus, Ohio, and Andy Palmer of St. George split time at the point guard spot and have been instrumental to the Bruins' fast start.

"Both our point guards are freshmen and struggled a little early in the season, but they've been playing better lately, and when they play well our team plays well," added Parrish. Lyles and Palmer as a tandem have been scoring 14.2 points and dishing out 4.3 assists per game.

Rounding out the guard line at the number two spot is Brian Green of Fruit Heights and Sam Kelly of Salem, Ore. Green, a freshman, has quickly established himself as an offensive threat and is the team's second-leading scorer at 14.7 points per game.

The front line is manned by Wilkinson and sophomore Parker Thomas of Murray. Thomas has been a solid complement to Wilkinson in the low post and has maintained a 3.7 points and 1.5 rebound per game average.

The Bruins play in the ultra-competitive Scenic West Athletic Conference and will be challenged to compete for the conference championship.