By Shelley Ebbrecht
Jasper finished third in the Spring River Valley Conference last season but returns over half of its varsity starting lineup to bring experience to the court this winter.
That experience, combined with size, is what head coach Tyler Gripka said will give his Eagles an edge over the competition.
“We will have four guys that will be 6’3” to 6’5” and in a school our size, that is a good thing to have and something that will tend to give you an advantage when it comes to the inside part of the game,” he said. “I also feel like we have lots of experience coming back. We have seven lettermen from last year’s team returning.”
Making his way back to the court is senior Levi Brown who earned second team all-conference for his junior campaign. Joining him are fellow seniors and returning starters Byron Stevens and Nic Chartier. Caleb Brown is a sophomore that Gripka is looking to have a big year.
Watch out for newcomer Logan Winchester, a junior that played some varsity minutes last year and is expected to step up and be big for the team this year. Sophomores Levi Hale and Jaden Baugh are going to see varsity time as well.
They will try to cover the loss of graduated seniors and all-conference honorees Blake Jeffries and Nick Adkins who carried much of the offensive load for the team, something Gripka said the team has improved on over the summer.
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“We have worked on the offensive side of the ball,” Gripka said. “We lost our leading scorer from a year ago in Blake Jeffries who averaged over 20 points a game. Those are big shoes to fill, but I feel like we have the guys to do it.”
Jasper finished last year 15-9 after losing to Greenfield in the Class 2, District 13 Quarterfinals. Gripka returns for his third year at the helm for the Eagles. He said this year’s team has the potential to finish at the top of the conference.
“If feel like we have the ability to be toward the top of our conference, but in order to do that we are going to have to play complete basketball games—all four quarters,” he said. “There are some good teams in our conference and if we don’t come out and play all four quarters then it’s going to be hard for us to beat those good teams. I feel we have a team that can be very good, but we have to play as a team together if we want to achieve the goals that we are setting for ourselves.”
Jasper will host a jamboree November 11 then starts the regular season on their home court against Rich Hill November 22. The Eagles go right into the Lockwood Invitational Tournament on December 1. After that, they will play three Kansas schools in two weeks, all in Kansas.
