The De Soto High School boys basketball team is looking to repeat the success of last year’s season, and with the talent this year, they have a good chance of that.
Even though there are only two returning starters, seniors Mason Wedel and Joey Johnson, underclassmen and returning seniors are rising to the challenge.
“Our senior class is really strong with Mason and Joey being our top scorers, even from last year. Then you throw John Williams and TJ Crow into that mix and you have a solid group of guys that score, rebound, defend and do everything that it takes to win,” said head boys basketball coach Matt Rice.
In addition to senior leadership, several underclassmen have been stepping it up.
“I’ve been really pleased with Isaac Lueth and his development, and Ryan Stallbaumer continuing to improve and Braiden Turner is scratching the surface of his potential, he’s working really hard in practice,” Rice said.
Basketball at De Soto has always brought a large, enthusiastic crowd at every home game, and a majority of away games. However, this year the gym at DHS will not house this atmosphere until Jan. 11, 2012 when the boys will face St. James Academy. This is rather unusual as in the past there have been home games in December and at least one the first week of January. Rice does not see this affecting the team’s performance.
“I’d like to think that we’re mentally tough enough that it won’t affect us too much. We would love to have an earlier home game than we have, but sometimes that’s just not possible, so we just have to fight through it,”
Rice has also set several goals for the team as they begin regular season play.
“I expect us to compete every game and never give up I expect us to play hard and play together as far as goals go, we’d love to win the league again, win our sub-state and go to the state tournament,” Rice said.
The first regular season game for the boys will be on Dec. 16 at Ottawa High School.