RAPID CITY - The White River boys' basketball team came into the 2008-09 season with a bullseye on its back and a huge hole to fill in its backcourt. It's pretty obvious that the Tigers have managed to learn how to deal with both of those problems on the fly.

The Tigers, the defending Class B state champions, came into this season with the specter of playing without the state's all-time leading boys' high school basketball scorer in the starting lineup for the first time since 2003.

"We're a little further along than I might have expected," White River head coach Eldon Marshall said. "But at the same time, because of this team's work ethic and the time they've put in, it's not that much of a surprise."

The Tigers knocked off Langford 66-50 for the school's first Class B championship since 1955 last season when Louie Krogman ended his legendary career with a 45-point effort in his final high school game. Replacing Krogman, who took his talents to the University of South Dakota, looked to be a daunting task for the Tigers - but they had a very nice piece of the puzzle returning in 6-foot-5, 240-pound center Matthew Bartlett.

"Our focus so far this year has been on Bartlett being big for us down low," Marshall said. "We need him to score this year. He can really shoot the ball for his size and when he gets it down low he's pretty hard to stop. Thankfully we still have a guy that other teams look to double team and that opens some things up for our other guys."

The focus turning to Bartlett has been something new though, even for Marshall.

"Louie was so hard to guard and always had the ball in his hands," Marshall said. "He could always score when we needed him to. Bartlett is a go-to guy, but he needs someone else to get him the ball where he needs it to score. Louie could just take it. We have more dry spells offensively so we need to rely on our defense a lot more."

The new formula has been plenty successful this year as the Tigers have racked up a 5-0 record and - unlike last year - won the Lakota Nation Invitational championship with a 65-57 win over Custer. The experience should be big for White River as it navigates its way through the rest of its season.

"Our defense really improved throughout the LNI and gave us some opportunities to win," Marshall said. "The (semifinal) game against Standing Rock was a tough, tough game, really a great battle. Then against Custer it was the same way. We were down and we just kept battling back and battling back until we were able to get over the hump at the end. Those were big wins for us."

Wins that Marshall said probably couldn't have happened without the experiences of last year and the leadership of Frankie Waln and Krogman on that team.

"I think any coach would miss a guy like that, a player of Louie's caliber," Marshall said. "He's just one of those one-of-a-kind kids and we do miss his and Frankie's leadership, but it's carried over.

"The work ethic and the way they practice and the way they work in the weight room this year has a lot to do with those two. It's really helped out our overall team. Our kids are mentally tough and I think that's another thing that Louie left a great example of. He loved to compete and would do whatever it took to win, and that rubbed off on our guys."

The Tigers will take on Class A Winner in their first home game of the season tonight and Marshall is expecting his team to continue doing what it is that has them unbeaten so far.

"I'm not surprised with the effort and hard work they're showing," Marshall said of his team. "But I am a little surprised at how quick and how well the team has jelled together so far. They're really working hard together

and the way they're getting along has led to our early success."