‘They’re super big basketball guys.’ Sanor family is all in on hoops at Meridian High
On the basketball court, T.J. Sanor refers to Jeff Sanor as “Coach.” At home, he goes by another name: “Dad.”
Basketball is a family affair at Meridian High, where the Sanors contribute in a variety of roles. And it’s turned into a winning recipe.
Meridian finished as the state runner-up last season, and the Warriors are off to a 9-3 start in 2023-24. On Friday, Meridian knocked off previously unbeaten Timberline 55-42 in a 5A Southern Idaho Conference matchup on the Wolves’ home court.
T.J. Sanor, a 6-foot-6 junior shooting guard, led the Warriors with 12 points on 5-for-6 shooting from the field. Jeff Sanor is in his seventh season as Meridian’s head coach. His brother, Mike Sanor, is an assistant along with his oldest son, Donovan Sanor.
Daughter Josie Sanor is the Warriors’ team manager and keeps track of the shot chart during games. And Grandpa Sanor is always in the stands rooting them all on.
“They’re super big basketball guys. They just feed it into us,” Meridian senior guard Ryan Baker said. “They’ve been a huge part of this program for us, and we’ve definitely taken a huge step.”
T.J. Sanor is in his third season playing for his dad, and he said they do a good job of limiting basketball talk to the court and focusing on their father-son relationship at home.
“Sometimes it’s a lot, but it’s always nice having family around,” T.J. Sanor said. “They’re my biggest supporters, so it’s nice having them there.”
While the Sanors form the backbone of the Warriors’ program, it’s an all-around team effort on the court. Twelve different players logged playing time for Meridian (9-3, 2-1 5A SIC) against Timberline (10-1, 2-1), as Jeff Sanor regularly rotated in fresh bodies to keep the pressure on the Wolves.
“We like having a good, deep team. We like keeping our energy up on the court,” Baker said. “We like to play really fast, so having good subs come in is real helpful for that.”
Timberline scored the first points of the game on a putback by junior forward Jacob Heyne, but it would be the only time the Wolves would hold the lead. Meridian limited Timberline to just 16.7% shooting from the floor in the first half to build a 25-11 advantage.
The Wolves used a 9-0 run to cut Meridian’s lead to 37-30 with under a minute to play in the third quarter. But Meridian quieted the threat with a 14-4 spurt at the start the fourth to quickly push the margin back to double digits.
Nine players in all scored points for the Warriors. Baker joined T.J. Sanor in double figures with 11 points, and senior forward Duncan Pearce added 10 points. Juniors Tristan Fortin and Tyler Brummer chipped in six points apiece.
Timberline was led by Alex Ko and Jackson Kelly, who notched 13 points each.
“We’ve got really good returning guys, really skilled basketball players,” Jeff Sanor said. “But we’ve also got a lot of young guys that we’re trying to get up to speed. And I think they took a tremendous jump tonight. We saw some young guys really step up and do well tonight.
“I think if we can get those guys playing like they did tonight consistently that we’re gonna be really pleased with how things go.”
This story was originally published January 5, 2024 at 11:22 PM.
