by By Dan Ninham (Oneida)
The Lodge Grass HS Indians boys’ basketball team finished the 2019-20 season with one more game to go: the state championship final. It wasn’t to be due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Most states were not able to finish their state high school tournament games.
In the 2020 MHSA State Class B Championships, Lodge Grass HS defeated first and second round opponents Shelby 71-40 and Rocky Boy 81-54. The Indians ended their season with a 21-5 record.
State championship teams Lodge Grass and Fairfield were named Co-State Champions.
One of the leaders of the young Lodge Grass Indians team is 6’7” Damon Gros Ventre. He scored 35 points versus Rocky Boy to lead game scoring.
Damon Gros Ventre (pronounced “grow vahn”) is a member of the Crow Nation (Apsalooke) and his clans are Ties in the Bundle and Child of Big Lodge. His Indian name is chaàduxbishè, and means wolf-bear. Damon’s parents are Leah Dust and Tyson Gros Ventre and the family lives in Lodge Grass, Montana.
“I am an all around athlete for the Lodge Grass Indians, I made second team all conference last season as a freshman and first team and all state this year as a sophomore.”
“Anywhere I go I’m proud to be Crow,” said Damon. “I just keep that on my chest wherever I go.”
“Whenever I tend to settle my dad lets me know right then and there, and just pushes me a lot,” said Damon.
“My grandpa’s Ben Gros Ventre and Victor Dust Jr. motivate me everyday to be better then I was yesterday, and they are my main support cast,” said Damon.
“Damon is a good humble boy and ever since he started walking he had basketball goal in the front door,” said grandpa Ben Gros Ventre. “That’s where it all started. Ever since he was a little boy he wanted to be a state champion like I was back in 1980 and 1982, so that was his dream. He runs everyday, shoots around all the time, every chance he gets and stays late after practice and works on his shot. He has three little brothers that look up to him. All I can say is he loves the game.”
“Everything you have troubles with my coach Josh Stewart will help you thru it, just an awesome person on and off the court, very motivating,” said Damon.
“Damon is every coaches dream: he works extremely hard, never complains, finds ways to improve week after week, and most importantly, he loves his brothers, every last one of them,” said first year head coach Josh Stewart, Lodge Grass HS.
“Our boys have developed a solid brotherhood and they all work together very well.
Damon has been faithful to the 6 am workouts and shooting drills, and it really showed in the post season. He was shooting above 40% from the perimeter, and nearly 90% from the charity stripe,” added Coach Josh.
“He not only wants to become the absolute best player he can be, but he has determined to find ways to make his teammates better, and I believe this is what will separate him from most,” said Coach Josh.
“Knowing that he just completing his sophomore season, it’s exciting to see what he will accomplish, with his teammates, before he graduates from Lodge Grass High School,” added Coach Josh.
“In some of our biggest games, Damon has asked to guard the other teams best player, and has done a great job locking them up,” said Coach Josh. “Colton Collins, Cash McCormick, Malachi Littlenest, Kendall Russell all have tremendous on-ball defense. Damon worked hard throughout the season to play solid on both ends of the floor and get to that level defensively. So they were able to wear players down with their team defense and our run-n-gun style of play.”
“Kobe Bryant, the mindset that he set out was unbelievable, the mamba mentality was something else,” said Damon. “That just motivated me.”
“As of right now I’m on weights and awaiting to be on a program that has combined workouts,” said Damon. “Running is also a big part, not only preparing for next season basketball but cross country. And the program will separate me among others in both of the sports, more less, activities.”
“Mind over matter, especially in cross country, is not easy. If it was easy, everyone would do it, but it isn’t, and that’s the thing about cross country,” said Damon. “It’s all mental, and I just need to get that more into my mind: mind over matter!”
“Being spiritual goes not only in cross country and the game of basketball, it goes with me wherever I go and whatever I do,” said Damon. “Being equally close to God can never fail me, and I just keep that with me, before a game, before a run, I thank God for the current position that I was in that specific moment, and it just helps me knowing I got God beside me and all my ancestors and passed loved ones helping me along the way make great choices, guiding me to the good from bad.”
“Mental toughness in basketball is I’m feeling great,” said Damon. “There are not strategic specificities that I go into other then mamba mentality, and remember who I am. Once I remember who I am, what I’m capable of, then I’m okay, nothing is stressful, the game flows as how I control it and how I want it, then everything’s okay.”
“Right now I am staying sanitized but not relaxed,” said Damon. “I still got workouts. “I have to run, because I know some athletes take this pandemic very seriously and that gives me the advantage to rise above all. I love that I get to put in the work and get even better while most rest at home.”
Everyone knows the expression that Damon Gros Ventre is getting better while others are resting and when you lace them up and play Lodge Grass HS next season, the Lodge Grass HS Indians will be ready.
Photo Credit: Tommy Robinson
