Boys basketball takes off

The Bobcat boys basketball team is about ready to hit the courts for the season and head coach Shane Corpening shared his thoughts on the upcoming season.

“I have very high expectations for our basketball team,” Corpening said. “We are returning three starters, a big senior class, and some key contributors from last years team. And we have a solid group of kids on our team that have put in a lot of time in the gym since the end of last years season.

“I don’t want to get into predictions as to where we’ll finish or anything like that, but I do think the ceiling is very high for this team and there will be noticeable improvement from last season.” 

Some of the key returners from last year are Duder Harvey, Jarron Mortimore, and Cade McLean. Harvey returns as the lone 3A East All-Conference selection from last season.

“He’s a great offensive player who can really put pressure on a defense with his penetrating ability,” Corpening said. “Mortimore provides us with great size and length. He was a contender for 3A defensive player of the year last year. We will really lean on him on the defensive side of the ball and for rebounds. McLean is a very quick player. He is a good decision maker on offense and a good shooter. Night in and night out he will he asked to lockdown our oppositions best guard.” 

Corpening said in addition, he expects the other seniors to provide quality minutes and leadership for the team.

“Truly, I think depth is going to be a strength for us this season,” he said. “We will have 10-12 guys vying for varsity minutes. 

“I think we play in an extremely competitive quad in 3A. Douglas and Buffalo are consistently some of the best teams in 3A and Coach Von Eye has done a great job with his program up in Newcastle.

“As a coaching staff we are trying to build a program that will get us to a competitive level with these teams. Something that we have to understand is that it’s a process and it takes time. I think we have laid a great foundation so far and we’re very excited for the upcoming season.”

The Bobcats’ home game is against Burlington on December 21st. “The boys would love to see a packed gym,” he said.