Bandon’s boys basketball team is getting used to hosting playoff games — and winning them.

It’s been the norm the past several years, when a group of talented players came through school, leading the Tigers to three straight league titles.

While those past home playoff games were expected, the Tigers didn’t anticipate being in the same position this winter. But here they are, hosting Umatilla Saturday night with a trip to the Class 3A state tournament on the line. The game is scheduled for a 7 p.m. tip-off.

Bandon had to replace all five starters from last year, but still finished second in the regular season and league tournament.

“I think it’s great,” said Bandon coach Matt Angove. “I think we exceeded our expectations.”

That makes Saturday’s game all the more special.

“(Volunteer) coach (Lee) Pestana always tells the kids, ‘When you do the unexpected, that’s fun,’” Angove said.

Bandon has a chance to add to its unexpected season Saturday, and Angove said a trip to the state tournament would do wonders for the program.

“The further we go, it’s great for the future,” he said. “We just want to keep going, get as much experience (as we can). This is a great opportunity to get playoff experience.”

That experience would prove extra valuable with a starting lineup that includes junior Max DeVillers, sophomores Connor Jackson and Andy Santos, and freshman Garth Gant.

Bandon spent most of the season using a platoon system, shuffling a fresh group of players into the lineup every few minutes, but changed to a more conventional substitution pattern at the Sunset Conference tournament last weekend with several players injured or ill. Senior Archie Garrett had the other starting position over the weekend, while fellow seniors Jason Duval, Blake Larkin, Devin Nolan and Zinger Santos are among the other key players.

With illness striking the school again this week, Angove wasn’t sure which coaching strategy he would use Saturday.

“We’ve done platooning and it’s worked,” he said. “We didn’t platoon as many last weekend and it worked well, too. I’m going to have to decide which route to go.”

That may depend on how much pressure Angove wants to use against Umatilla, a team that tends to run a quick offense, behind guards Steven Williams and Levi Russell.

“They want to get down and shoot the ball quickly,” Angove said. “We’re going to have to get back defensively.”

The Vikings also appear to be a strong rebounding team.

“We’re definitely going to have to do a good job of boxing out,” Angove said.

Umatilla likes to use a variety of zone defenses, and Angove thinks the Tigers may be able to exploit that with good ball fakes and passing — one of the team’s strengths during the tournament last weekend.

“I think we’re getting better and better (on offense),” Angove said.

While a number of the Bandon players had roles on last year’s team, which finished sixth at the state tournament, others will be seeing their first playoff experience Saturday.

“To have it at home, hopefully in a packed gym with lots of fan support, this is going to be fun,” Angove said.

The challenge will be enjoying that experience while treating the contest like any other game in terms of how the team plays.

“We’ve got to remind the kids to just do what we’ve been doing and play smart and leave it all on the court,” Angove said.