Born to shorter parents, Chauncey Means and Kate Skinner each grew to above average heights. Just nothing like their son.

"That's kind of the mystery," jokes Frenchtown senior Austin Means. "Both my parents are reasonably tall, but I just kind of came out of nowhere. I managed to get the peak of the tall genes."

Means' genes started showing themselves from an early age but by his sophomore basketball season at Frenchtown, the lanky high schooler was unmistakable in the Broncs' huddle. At 6 feet, 8 inches, he possesses the kind of height rare to Montana high school athletics, especially at the smaller Class A tier where Frenchtown competes.

The past three years Means has dedicated himself to adapting his natural gift to the game of basketball, filling out his frame to add an inside presence to his outside shooting skills.

No longer looking like the "uncoordinated toddler running down the court," Means has parlayed his hoops prowess into a college opportunity at Colorado School of Mines and has the first-place Broncs eyeing their first trip to state since before he or any of his teammates were even in high school.

***

Mark Quinn remembers his first encounter with Means.

Back then Quinn was an assistant with the Broncs and Means a gangly freshman, standing tall like a light post and just as skinny.

"But I was looking down at him that first year," said Quinn, himself a rather tall individual and now Frenchtown's second-year head coach.

Means was in the midst of his second of two major growth spurts. During his time at Frenchtown Junior High, the young man shot up more than 4 inches in little more than a year. When he left junior high -- he migrated just a few hundred feet east to the adjoined high school on Frenchtown's north side -- until the start of his sophomore year, Means added nearly another 8 inches to reach his 6-8 frame of today.

Suddenly pants no longer fit right, his steps weren't landing where he intended and the top of his head was under constant threat of attack by low-hanging light fixtures and doorways.

He'd played basketball since he was young, but Means began to realize the opportunity the game presented. He was bigger than most boys on the court, but it took developing a shooting stroke and a post-up move to turn him into a force.

His scoring has gradually increased in the past three years while his defense and rebounding have become an even greater factor. He scored 11.1 points per game as a sophomore, then 12.5 last year before notching 13.6 so far in nine games as a senior. His rebounding average has jumped from 6.6 per game as a junior to 10.4 in 2016-17.

"I have the physical ability to really work anywhere," Means explained. "I'm big, but I'm also quick on my feet. I can get around bigger guys and that also gives me a chance to work outside and inside."

That'll come in handy next year when he heads to NCAA Division II Colorado School of Mines, a small but academically rigorous school in the Denver suburb of Golden. At the college ranks, 6-8 is only tall as opposed to towering.

"At the next level he'll probably be more of a 3 or a 4, facing the basket on the wing instead of his back to the basket," said Quinn, describing his player's move from the post at a recent practice.

"He can handle the ball and he can shoot from the outside," Quinn continued as Means dribbled nearby, draining threes from beyond the arc, "but where we like him best is down there by the basket. He likes to show off the entire game."

 

It's part of what attracted Mines to Means. The student-athlete popped up on head coach Pryor Orser's radar because of the coach's connections to Big Sky Country. Orser is in his 16th season as the head man at Mines, a stretch that followed a one-year stint as an assistant at the University of Montana under head coach Don Holst in 2000-01.

Orser is from Montana too, growing up in Gardiner before playing hoops at MSU-Billings where he earned both his undergraduate (business administration) and master's (education) degrees.

In Means the coach saw another Montana boy with collegiate talent.

"We have won a lot of games and been to six NCAA tournaments in the last seven years with versatile stretch-4 guys, and Austin definitely can fill that void in the coming years," Orser said in a press release last November when Means signed his National Letter of Intent to play for the Orediggers.

Means was just as excited for the opportunity. The school, known for its various engineering programs, fit both athletically and academically.

"A big thing was their ability to work around the athletes' (academic schedules)," Means said. "All the athletes down there are (engineering majors). My goal is to graduate as an engineer."

The Diggers' roster, which has posted a 15-3 start to this season, is piled high with future engineers of all disciplines -- mechanical, civil, chemical, biochemical, petroleum and electrical.

***

Frenchtown's last real successful state push came more than a decade ago. The Broncs won 16 games and raced all the way to the State A title game before falling to Columbia Falls by a single point.

Only once since then -- in 2013 -- has Frenchtown advanced to state.

This year's team is showing the kind of grit it takes to get over the top, the ability to win the close games against tough opponents. Last Friday's dance with Polson is a perfect example.

Frenchtown led by as many as 14 points in the fourth quarter before the Pirates, another team with state aspirations, clawed back to send the game to overtime. Then double overtime. Down by two there, freshman Cade Baker drilled a game-winning 3-pointer to win, 76-75.

"Right now everyone on this team knows what we're capable of," said Jacob Price, one of only two seniors on the team along with Means. "We've been through some close games already this season and going to double overtime, we knew we could pull off the win."

Frenchtown is 5-4 overall, though two of those loses have come to Class AA powers. The Broncs are 2-0 in Northwest A games and lead their league. They'll need to keep winning and survive the daunting Western A super divisional next month to reach state in Butte in March.

Only four teams from the divisional, which also includes the stacked Southwest A, will advance.

That's a tough path to tread, but Frenchtown is looking as strong as it has in years. It certainly helps to have a 6-8 safety net around the basket.

"He's a great leader for us and he's helping us win games for sure," Price said of Means. "Those plays that the guards get beat, he's there to block the shot underneath. ... He knows his role and we like to get the ball into him and watch him do work."