The past two days, The Republic has previewed the Columbus East and Columbus North boys basketball seasons. Today, we take a look at the other seven area teams, beginning with Hauser.
Hauser
Brent Keck takes over as the fourth Jets coach in the past four years and the fifth in the past six years. He will look to add some stability to a program that went 7-17 last season, including 2-4 in the Mid-Hoosier Conference.
“They’ve been through a lot of changes,” Keck said. “It’s just going to take some time. Hauser is a special place, and basketball is important there. We’re going to get back to where it was. The kids have worked incredibly hard. They have to learn a new system, but I really like our effort and our passion and desire to get better. Hopefully, they’ll establish a culture for years to come.”
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Bryce Bates, a 6-foot-3 junior, could take over as Hauser’s go-to player this season. Bates averaged 12.2 points and led the Jets with 6.3 rebounds a game last year.
“Bryce is a talented kid, and he’s working on expanding his game a little bit,” Keck said. “He plays awful hard, and we’re excited to have an opportunity to coach him the next two years.”
Landon Asher, a 5-10 senior, returns at point guard after averaging 4.9 points and 2.3 assists. Clayton West (1.6 ppg), a 6-0 senior, and 5-8 senior Frankie Poole (2.0 ppg) — started at times last season.
Moving up from the JV will be 6-4 junior Koby Johnson and 5-11 junior Eli Miller. Newcomers include 6-1 senior Aaron Rork, a transfer from North, and 6-0 senior Kobe Meahl.
“We think we’re about eight deep right now,” Keck said. “We’re real excited with them. We’re excited about the future kids we have in our program.”
Keck is hoping that translates into success.
“We try to keep it process-driven,” Keck said. “I’m not one of those guys that shoots for X amount of wins. We want to put our best foot forward as far as our conference and be playing our best basketball come March. We want to win every rep in practice, and I think all of those things will take care of itself before it’s all said and done.”
Columbus Christian
In the Crusaders’ 14-27 season last year, 10 of their losses came by 10 points or fewer. Coach Kevin Roth hopes they can turn those close losses into wins this season.
“One thing that I think we can accomplish is that if we take care of the little things, take care of the basketball and not giving the ball back to the opposing team, we’ll be all right,” Roth said. “In the losses that we had, there were very few times that we got beat by sizable margins, and those are some of the things I feel we needed to work on over the summer.”
Three starters return, led by 6-4 junior Gabe Ridder, who averaged 13.2 points and led the team with 8.6 rebounds. Also back are 6-3 junior Jacob Conrad (10.2 ppg, 7.1 rpg) and 5-6 senior Garrett Spurgeon (4.6 ppg).
Cody Kiefer, a 5-6 junior transfer from East, will take over at the point. Also new this year is 6-4 senior Parker Walden.
Five other players — 6-0 junior Gavin Lustig, 5-8 juniors Nathan DeFriece and Ethan Nickerson, 6-3 senior Drew Robison and 6-2 senior Isaac Carlson — saw significant action last season. Splitting time between varsity and JV will be 5-4 sophomore Owen Reed, 6-4 sophomore Noah Edwards and 6-1 freshman Josh Conrad.
“From what I’ve seen, we’re improved shooting-wise,” Roth said. “Our guys have worked when they could in the offseason. Size-wise, this is a bigger team than we had last season. I think our size is going to help us, and just the overall experience coming back from last year is going to pay dividends for us.”
South Decatur
The Cougars had one of their best seasons in school history last year, only to see it derailed by COVID-19 after winning their first sectional in 12 years. They went 24-2, including 7-0 in winning the MHC, and were ranked No. 6 in Class 2A at the end of the regular season.
“Everybody says you didn’t get to finish, but at the same time it’s a new year,” South Decatur coach Kendall Wildey said. “What we’ve been trying to get across to the guys is, ‘It’s one thing to get to the top. It’s another thing to stay there.’ They’re working hard.”
The Cougars return a pair of big-time scorers in 6-6 senior Lane Lauderbaugh (23.3 ppg, 11.6 rpg, 3.1 apg, 2.8 spg) and 6-2 junior Hunter Johnson (20.1 ppg, 5.0 rpg, 2.4 apg, 2.3 spg). Either of them could play the point this year, as could 6-1 senior Tyler Sporleder (10.5 ppg).
Evan Wullenweber (7.2 ppg), 6-1 junior, and 6-0 senior Chase Boswell (3.3 ppg) also started at times last season for South Decatur, which led the state with 87.8 points a game.
“We figure we can score,” Wildey said. “We just have to stop people while we do score.”
Moving up to the varsity are 5-11 sophomore point guard Luke Burton, 6-1 sophomores Dale Peters and Avery Seegers and 6-0 senior Parker Marion, while 6-3 junior Drew Diekhoff and 5-10 freshman Jacob Scruggs could split time. Layne Skinner, a 6-2 senior, moved in from Jennings County when his mother married Lauderbaugh’s father.
Jennings County
The Panthers got a late start to the season because of COVID-19 and just started practice on Monday. They return four starters from a team that went 14-12, including 2-5 in the Hoosier Hills Conference, and reached the sectional final.
“I would expect us to be pretty competitive this year,” Jennings coach Josh Land said. “I think we have a chance to be better record-wise. Every game, we play, we should be competitive. I don’t expect us to go undefeated by any means, but our kids are confident and competitive enough to win a lot of games. Our ultimate goal is to win the sectional, and to do that, we’re going to have to beat some really good teams.”
Carson McNulty, a 6-0 junior, led the Panthers with 12.5 points a game last season. The other returning starters are 6-3 senior Trey Wilson, 6-7 junior Jacob Vogel and 5-9 sophomore point guard Keegan Manowitz.
Moving up to the varsity are 6-2 sophomores Owen Law and Lane Zohrlaut, 5-9 junior Austin Martin and 6-1 junior Logan McIntosh. Peyton Hayden, a 6-2 junior, also could see action.
“I think we have a very talented group,” Land said. “We have kids that can really score and shoot the ball.”
Brown County
Matt Roberts, who coached the Brown County girls team the past six years, is now the school’s boys coach.
“I would have loved to have more summertime and opportunities in the fall to do some things,” Roberts said. “We’ve been limited with the COVID thing, but it’s been good. We’ve had a chance to get to see the guys and know where we’re at.”
The Eagles return three starters from a 5-18 team, including 5-6 senior point guard Travis Ely, who led them with 11.2 points a game. Also back are 5-9 junior Carter Kelly (5.8 ppg) and 5-8 junior Kody Walsh, who played in only two games because of injury.
Ricky Stanley, a 5-11 senior, and 5-10 junior Seth Oliphant saw significant action last season. Dalton Hedrick, a 6-0 senior, and 5-11 junior Eli Sichting split between varsity and JV last season.
“We’re going to be small, but we have a good group of athletes,” Roberts said. “I think we have some quickness and some athleticism and maybe some shooting. We’re going to play small ball, so to speak. Our kids are hungry to get back out there and get some wins and gain some confidence back.”
Edinburgh
The Lancers are looking for a big improvement after returning everyone from a team that finished 6-18, including 3-3 in the MHC.
“We’re kind of in an unusual situation where everybody is returning from last year, so we don’t have to get a bunch of guys familiar with what we’re doing,” Edinburgh coach Keith Witty said. “So we’re looking to build upon that.”
Caleb Dewey (14.8 ppg, 5.6 ppg), a 6-3 sophomore, emerged as the Lancers leading scorer as a freshman. Travis Jones (8.0 ppg, 6.3 rpg), a 6-4 junior, was the leading rebounder.
Also back are 5-10 senior Isaac Roberts (7.9 ppg) and 5-11 senior Noah Detling (7.1 ppg). Sharing the other starting spot were 6-3 junior Riley Palmeter (1.6 ppg), 6-5 junior Landon Burton (3.3 ppg) and 5-11 senior Chase Littlejohn (3.2 ppg).
“We had a pretty decent first week of practice,” Witty said. “Practice has kind of shown that we are ready to make that step and be a little bit more competitive than we were last year.”
Trinity Lutheran
The Cougars have a new coach in former Columbus East standout Ryan Crase. Crase was an assistant at Trinity last season when it went 11-13.
“They’re all quite a bit improved,” Crase said. “I think we’ll be drastically improved as far as the success of the season.”
Five full- or part-time starters return, led by 5-11 senior point guard Tyler Goecker (14.3 ppg, 7.9 rpg, 3.3 apg) and 6-3 senior Jack Marksberry (14.1 ppg, 4.9 rpg), although Marksberry will miss the first few games with an injury. Also back are 6-1 junior Mitchell Hackman (10.6 ppg), 6-4 junior Jacob Sabotin (3.6 ppg) and 6-1 sophomore Hudson Norton (8.7 ppg).
Lawson Woods, a 5-11 senior, was the Cougars’ sixth man. Moving up to varsity are 5-8 junior Evan Hunt and 5-10 juniors Caleb Williams and Kade Hill.
“We’re going to play at a faster tempo and try to speed the game up,” Crase said. “We’ll have more pressure defense and trapping, and we’ve looked really good so far. We’re ahead of where I thought we’d be at this point.”
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The 2020-21 boys basketball schedules for Hauser and Columbus Christian:
Hauser
Nov. 28;vs. Evansville Christian at North Daviess;12:30 p.m.
Nov. 28;at North Daviess;7:30 p.m.
Dec. 4;Morristown;7:30 p.m.
Dec. 5;Columbus Christian;7:30 p.m.
Dec. 11;Crothersville;7:30 p.m.
Dec. 18;Edinburgh;7:30 p.m.
Dec. 28;vs. Hagerstown in Edinburgh Tournament;Noon
Dec. 29;at Edinburgh Tournament;TBA
Jan. 2;at Trinity Lutheran;7:30 p.m.
Jan. 8;North Decatur;7:30 p.m.
Jan. 15;at Eastern Hancock;7:30 p.m.
Jan. 16;at Milan;7:30 p.m.
Jan. 22;at Waldron;7:30 p.m.
Jan. 23;Rising Sun;7:30 p.m.
Jan. 29;at South Decatur;7:30 p.m.
Jan. 30;Batesville;7:30 p.m.
Feb. 4;Southwestern (Shelby);7:30 p.m.
Feb. 6;South Dearborn;1:30 p.m.
Feb. 12;Jac-Cen-Del;7:30 p.m.
Feb. 16;at Oldenburg Academy;7:30 p.m.
Feb. 23;at Triton Central;7:30 p.m.
Columbus Christian
Dec. 4;at Legacy Christian;7:30 p.m.
Dec. 5;at Hauser;7:30 p.m.
Dec. 8;at Martinsville Tabernacle;7:30 p.m.
Dec. 11;at Dugger Union;7 p.m.
Dec. 12;Medora;7:30 p.m.
Dec. 15;Horizon Christian;7:30 p.m.
Dec. 18;Pleasant View Christian;7:30 p.m.
Dec. 19;Washington Catholic;4 p.m.
Dec. 28-30;Columbus Christian Tournament;TBA
Jan. 2;Evansville Christian;6 p.m.
Jan. 5;at Medora;7:30 p.m.
Jan. 8;at Madison Christian;7:30 p.m.
Jan. 9;at Cannelton;7:30 p.m.
Jan. 15;vs. Dugger Union in SRC at Evansville Christian;6:30 p.m.
Jan. 16;SRC Tournament at Evansville Christian;TBA
Jan. 19;at Christel House Academy;6 p.m.
Jan. 21;Indiana Christian;7 p.m.
Jan. 22;at Shawe Memorial;7:30 p.m.
Jan. 26;Crosspointe Christian;7 p.m.
Jan. 29;Community Baptist;7 p.m.
Jan. 30;at Crothersville;7:30 p.m.
Feb. 2;Columbus HomeSchool;7:30 p.m.
Feb. 5;at Laurel;7:30 p.m.
Feb. 6;Legacy Christian;7:30 p.m.
Feb. 12;at Horizon Christian;7:30 p.m.
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