The boys basketball team hopes to rebound off of its previous 16-7 season that ended in a regional semi-final game against Richard Montgomery. However, the team lost five starters and its sixth man who took most of the minutes last year.
The team will have to account for more than 35 combined points per game that power forward Charlie Waugh, shooting guard Ross Koehn and point guard Demetrius Cook provided last season.
“Obviously we have lost a lot of firepower from last year’s team,” coach Chris Lun said. “We are looking for guys to step up and make huge contributions. All 12 of our team members will have a chance to contribute this year.”
Shooting guard Bryan Joel, center Ian Ross and small forward Daniel Voigt were the only players that saw a considerable amount of time on varsity last year and will have to lead the team. JV players such as Nick Yockey and Jake Harrison will also have to step up to replace the losses.
“We [Joel, Ross and Voigt] are going to need to step up as far as scoring and leadership goes,” Voigt said. “From what I’ve seen from this off-season and the pre-season, I’m confident we are going to be able to fill those roles.”
Although there are large shoes to fill, Lun still has the same goals for the team.
“I have high expectations for all my teams,” Lun said. “The first day of practice, we set a team goal of winning the 4A West division. If we don’t believe we can win, we won’t. I want this team to be confident and give it all they have.”
Lun believes that the team should also try to outwork their opponents every night. He thinks that it will be a successful season if the team is the hardest working team in the county, regardless of wins and losses.
However, the team has an unusual size advantage that may lead it to become a more defensively minded squad.
“We have tons of size for the first time in a long time,” Lun said. “If we can limit turnovers on the offensive end and play Whitman defense, we can be a pretty good team.”
The team opens up its season on Dec. 7 against the Watkins Mill Wolverines and three days later faces a tough Paint Branch team at home.
“We are going to have to mesh together as a team, especially on offense, since we are running different sets,” Voigt said. “But still a lot of our offense is going to come down to knocking down shots.”
