Auburn Mountainview boys basketball coach Jon Price knows his team has talent. He also knows that it’s the youngest squad he’s had since he started coaching at the school five years ago.

“We’re young and we’re going to get better,” Price said. “But I’ve never had a team with less than seven seniors, and this one has three.”

Although the future might appear bright for the Lions, Price admits the here and now might be a struggle.

Those returning include senior co-captains 6-foot-1 wing Neal Leatherman and 5-6 point guard Josh Upchurch.

“Neal is a solid wing-type kid who can take it to the basket and can defend,” Price said.

Beyond the captains, the Lions will look to sophomore wing J.J. Lacey and 6-3 junior wing/post Marion Beauchamp to help shoulder the load for the Lions.

“Lacey is our best newcomer, a 6-foot-1 sophomore,” Price said. “He can shoot the ball. He’s a scorer. He’s grown up playing basketball, and he’s a damn good player. Marion Beauchamp is our best athlete.”

The team also boasts some height in the post with 6-5 senior Joey Houck and 6-7 junior Drew Sleezer.

However, what the Lions really need to compete with South Puget Sound League 3A foes Enumclaw, Lakes and Decatur is a bit of seasoning sprinkled with a dash of toughness, according to Price.

“We’ve got a little bit of height,” Price said. “We’ve just got to get physically tougher.”

The lack of physical play was apparent in the team’s 89-61 nonleague loss to Wilson this past Tuesday.

“We need to get tougher,” Price said. “Right now, we’re not physically tough enough. We’ve got to get tough. We need to spend time in the weight room. We just need to have more of the mentality that these kids from the city have. They’re tough. They play on asphalt, when they hit the deck they hit the deck hard and skin their knee. When we hit the deck, we’re playing on our padded sport court on Lea Hill. It’s different. We’ve just got to get tougher.”

Price was optimistic about his team’s future improvement, however.

“While young and physically immature, these kids work hard and demand a lot from themselves in practice,” he said. “They want to get better and they see the light at the end of the tunnel.”

The Lions will continue to fine tune their game with a nonleague outing at Seattle Christian at 10:30 a.m. Saturday. The game will be broadcast on Comcast Varsity Sport Live. The Lions will play Yelm, Capital, Tahoma, Kent-Meridian and Fife before beginning league play on Jan. 4 at Bonney Lake.