With more veterans on the court than previous years, this year’s boys basketball team will use experience to their advantage while also teaching the underclassmen what it means to win. The Cards have more juniors and seniors on the varsity team this year than they had in the past.

According to head Coach Eric Brand the team has a lot of talent, but they will have to use it on the court to help them reach their goals for this season. 

“Our biggest goal is to win conference, try and win county and sectionals,”  Brand said.

The off-season has been mostly normal for the Cards with the players practicing before their first games and building team chemistry. Brand says that this is extremely important for the success of the team in the upcoming season. 

Three key players for the Cards are juniors A.J. Dancler, Nickens Lemba and Keyon Miller. With Dancler and Miller being on the team since their freshman year, they have been a key part of the teams success and will be again this year. Miller averaged 15 points and three assists per game in the 22 games he played in last year. Lemba averaged seven points, seven rebounds and two blocks per game in the 22 games he played. Dancler averaged 15 points and four rebounds per game in the 14 games he played.

“They have a lot of minutes, and we expect them to be the core of what we are doing. We have been young the last couple of years and now varsity is going to be mainly juniors and seniors.”

The players are looking forward to the upcoming season. With their first game against PMHS on Nov. 23. According to Dancler, he is ready to get out on the court and hopefully complete the season this year without any injuries. 

“We have a lot of talent,” Dancler said. “We can start out strong and hopefully this will be a great season.”  

As the upcoming season approaches and gets underway, it seems the whole basketball program is ready to begin the season. 

“Not only our varsity group but our jv and freshman groups are going to be better,” Brand said.