By Chris Parker
Lockwood boys basketball is aiming for a fourth straight season with at least 17 wins. The Tigers are coming off an 18-9 season a year ago.
Senior Eli Kerr and junior Henry Schnelle will be team leaders.
“Both young men act as a quarterback for our football team and share some leadership responsibilities in that regard which I hope translates over to the hardwood,” said Lockwood head coach Ethan Baker. “Eli has been a varsity player since his freshman year and has a lot of experience to lean on. Henry showed signs this summer of being able to command a larger role this season and I’m looking forward to seeing his development over the course of the year.”
Kerr averaged 4.6 points and 1.5 rebounds per game while Schnelle added in 2.7 points and 3.4 rebounds per game last year.
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Logan Wells (senior), Kamon Cooper (senior) and Hank Eggerman (junior) also return.
Baker on Wells: “Logan has a motor that never stops going. He has good versatility defensively being able to defend guards and bigs alike.”
Baker on Cooper: “Kamon provides a big strong frame that demands attention at the Class 1 level. He is someone that provides a much needed interior presence.”
Baker on Eggerman: “Hank is a coach’s dream in terms of grit, hustle and competitiveness. What he does won’t always show up in the stat sheet, but every team needs players like Hank.”
Dalton Mammon (senior), Dylan Snider (senior), Blake Cossins (senior), Cael McMillan (senior), Nash McGuire (junior), Izaac Taylor (junior), Nike Thieman (sophomore), Logan Pittsenbarger (sophomore) and Brett Glennon (sophomore) will all compete for varsity time.
“If everyone comes out, I think we will be able to come up with lineups that give maximum effort. If we can get everyone out and they work as hard as I know they can, I believe we can be a very scrappy defensive team. We have enough depth that we could potentially turn up the defensive pressure on teams unlike any of my teams to this point have been able to do,” Baker said. “We will have to find ways to score. We have lost three of our top four scorers from last season and we were a team that had difficulties scoring at times a season ago. We are going to have to try some new things offensively than we have the past three seasons, which could obviously open things up for kids, or be a struggle as we try something new.”
Lockwood opens the season Nov. 28 through Dec. 3 with its home tournament the Dennis Cornish Classic.
“I would like for our identity to be as a tough hard-nosed group that makes our opponents work for everything,” Baker said. “Being unsure what kind of offensive output we will have, I’d like for our opponents to simply dread playing us based on our effort, discipline and physicality.”
