By Chris Parker
Wheatland boys basketball will be looking to improve on last year’s five-win campaign this season.
Head coach Chandler Saultz enters his third season at Wheatland returning one all-conference player in Zeke Rusk who earned second-team all-conference honors last season.
“Zeke has always been able to score of the ball, but his leadership ability and knowledge of the game have increased greatly. We look for him to have a big year as he continues to grow as not just a score but a leader,” Saultz said. “I fully expect him to have a big year he can do a lot of things for us in many different roles. His ability to handle the basketball and play the small forward position will be a huge asset to what we are going to do this season.”
Tyler Dampier, Dylan Fellars and Josh Galloway all return to the varsity lineup as well. Dampier earned valuable starting experience as a freshman. Fellars is the big man in the middle for the Mules. Galloway is a quick guard.
Davin Sawyer and Michael Piper are freshmen that could see varsity playing time this year.
CLICK HERE FOR ALL THE WINTER SPORTS PREVIEWS
“We are pretty young but we have a lot of guys that will see a lot of playing time. I have a lot of guys that I can trust,” Saultz said.
Rebounding and turnovers are two areas of improvement for the Mules.
“We are definitely going to have to rebound much better from our guard positions, and learn to value the basketball more than we did last year,” Saultz said.
“I think we’re going to field a very competitive team. We have a lot of young guys that are going to be on the floor and some quality upperclassman that will provide good leadership,” Saultz said.
Wheatland opens the season on Nov. 22 at Northeast Vernon County.
