The Bemidji State University men’s basketball program has begun the 2017-18 season with its first practice of the season Saturday, Oct. 14.

Head Coach Mike Boschee enters his sixth season at the helm of Beaver Men’s Basketball after finishing the 2016-17 season sixth in the Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference North Division with a 10-18 overall record and a 8-14 mark in conference play. The team saw success within the league midway through last season, winning six of nine games from Jan. 7 to Feb. 3.

The Beavers return six letter winners and bring on six true freshmen. Returning starter Jai’Vionne Green set a program scoring record for a true freshman last season with 454 points. He averaged 16.2 points per game and shot 46.5 percent from the field, while setting a career high 25 points scored twice. Senior guard Sharif Black comes back for his second season with the program after scoring 12.7 points per game and leading the team with 3.2 assists per game.

Returning to work the post includes sophomores Logan Bader, Kyle Sorenson and Lucas Wendt. Bader started 24 of 28 games played and averaged 5.6 points and 3.9 rebounds per game. Wendt began to show himself as a role player midway through last season and finished averaging 7.2 points per game on 52.8 percent shooting from the field. Sorenson will also provide another strong force in the post after missing last season due to injury.

Bemidji State begins the 2017-18 schedule with the NSIC/MIAA Classic against Lindenwood University (Nov. 10) and University of Central Missouri (Nov. 11) at Wisconsin Dells, Wis. BSU will open play at BSU Gymnasium Nov. 17 against Valley City State University, going up against former Beavers assistant coach Ryan Montgomery who is currently the head coach of the Vikings.