By Chris Parker
Wheaton boys basketball has a new head coach in Seth Lash this season. He is a first-year varsity head coach who spent the past three seasons as an assistant at Gainesville.
Four juniors in Blake Morgan, Fernando Gonzalez, Michael Hang and Zander Dutra will be team leaders.
“I have four juniors that are going to be leaders for us,” Lash said. “They are always at any activity and encouraging other guys to be there. Fernando sets the tone for us defensively; he brings a lot of intensity and hustle. Blake and Michael do a good job to help us settle in on offense. Zander is a great teammate and always encouraging to his teammates and keeps a positive attitude that helps us when we might want to get down on ourselves.”
Morgan led the group in scoring with six points per game.
Houston Roller also returns to the varsity lineup.
Senior Steven Chavis along with juniors Devin Bateman, Lance Greenwell, Payton Pyle and Wyatt Shipley will look to carve out time on the varsity court.
CLICK HERE FOR LINKS TO ALL OF THE WINTER PREVIEWS
Wheaton showed improvement on defense in the summer. Offensively, Lash is looking for his team to play with more pace.
“I think our biggest strength this year will be our team defense. It was an area of focus for us during the summer and will continue to be as practice starts,” Lash said. “I think our biggest improvement to find success is learning to play with pace on offense. We made strides as summer was winding down. I’m hoping that it will pick up where we left off this summer once practices begin.”
Wheaton opens the regular season Nov. 19-23 at the Verona Tournament.
“Last year outside of two seniors this team was mainly comprised of a lot of sophomores after some injuries left the team devoid of other upperclassmen,” Lash said. “That thrust many of our sophomores and a freshman into significant varsity action. They should be much more prepared for the competition and intensity level of varsity games this year. This group had to battle through adversity at times last year and I think that will help us as we move forward throughout the season.”
