by Jeremy Benson, GrandRiverConference.com
North Andrew Cardinals are the coaches’ pick to win the GRC West in Boys Basketball in 2022-23. Worth County received one first place vote and finished 2nd in the poll. Defending Champion Stanberry is picked #4. St. Joseph Christian also received a 1st place vote.
North Andrew
Since North Andrew joined the Grand River Conference in
2016-17, they had either won or tied for a share of the GRC West every season
until last year. For most teams,
finishing 18-10 and 5-2 in conference would be considered a great year. By North Andrew standards, it was a bit of a
down year. They were just coming off a
Final Four finish in Class 2. But they
had to replace all-conference players in Tanner McDaniel, Brewer Wheeler and
Clayton Linville. It was an up-and-down
year for the Cardinals. Some highlights
were winning the GRC Showcase game against a very good Gallatin team and
winning the consolation at both Stanberry and North Platte Tournaments, which
are tournaments with very strong fields.
But they also struggled at times, with losses by 38 points to Grand View
Christian, 37 points to Bishop LeBlond and 44 points to Plattsburg.
The Cardinals return a large number of players this season
but do lose top scorer Owen Graham (16.5 ppg) and Couper Simmons, who averaged
7.4 ppg. Cade Thomas also departed via
graduation. But North Andrew does return
55% of its scoring. Hayden Ecker is the
leading returning scorer with 13.4 ppg.
He also averaged 2.7 3-pointers per game which led the GRC West. Braxon Linville (10.8 ppg) led all GRC West
freshman in scoring last season. Collin
Patterson and Trey McDaniel are guards that saw significant playing time that
also return.
North Andrew did have a lot of injuries last season, but
they have three players that missed significant time last season. Gunner Lawrence was out through the first two
months of the season. Aiden Miller was
injured in December and missed the remainder of the season. Jacob Chittum missed the entire season. All three are expected to be big
contributors.
Worth County
Worth County had a rough start to the season last year but
xended with a 11-game winning streak before running into Mound City and Tony
Osburn in the district championship.
They finished 16-7 and 4-3 in conference. But now the Tigers will have to replace 79%
of the scoring. All-conference players
Ayden Gladstone (18.7 ppg) and Jackson Runde (13.7 ppg), along with Grant
Cameron (9.3 ppg) and Jackson Smith (4.8 ppg) will be the top players that
Worth County will have to replace. They
will start with Junior Tyler New who scored 11.3 ppg last season and Levi
Cassavaugh who were starters last season.
They will be joined by Tanner Ridge, Braxton Hightshoe and John
Galanakis. Coach Les New said that there
is “No telling where we will be in the GRC”.
They are an “inexperienced team”.
Albany
Albany Warriors went finished last season 12-14 and 4-3 in
conference. They captured 3rd
place in their own tournament. While the
Warriors will have to replace a talented senior lineup in Quincy Stamper,
Jordan Poppa, Cade Newman and Garett Owens, they do have the leading returning
scorer in the GRC West in Kemper Cline at 20 ppg. Cline was the only non-senior to be on the 1st
team all-conference for the GRC West last season. He will be joined by fellow seniors Sam
Stamper and Troy Popplewell. Coach
Jeffrey Epplerly said that those three “will help lead the growth and
development of an inexperienced team.”
Stanberry
Stanberry Bulldogs had just won their second consecutive
district championship and were preparing to face Mound City in the Class 1
State Sectionals. The previous season,
the Mound City Panthers had ended Stanberry’s season in the same round by the
score of 70-55. To make matters worse,
Tony Osburn had just dropped 62 points on Worth County in their previous
game. The Bulldogs had a tall task in
front of them if they were going to extend their season.
Stanberry was able to hold Osburn to only 2 points in the
first half and 15 for the game and knocked off the Panthers 49-47. They then won a tight game against Green City
50-47 to advance to state. After an
overtime win against Wellsville-Middletown, the Bulldogs ran into a tough South
Iron team falling 71-45. Stanberry would
finish 2nd in State and ranked #2 in the final Class 1 Poll.
The Bulldogs finished the season 25-4 and 7-0 in
conference. They defeated Putnam County
in the conference championship game to win their first conference championship
since 2016 and 13th overall.
In addition to winning districts, Stanberry also won the Albany and King
City tournaments and were co-champions of their own tournament.
1st team all-conference Seniors Tyler and Austin
Schwebach both reached 1000 career points during Stanberry’s playoff run. They have departed along with All-Conference
honorable mention Landon Marticke and starter Korbin Fletchall. Junior Colby McQuinn is the lone starter
returning. He earned 2nd team
all-conference honors last season and averaged 10.4 ppg. Colby McQueen and Adam Jensen will be
expected to see significantly more playing time this season.
Coach Nick Groomer said, “I think we will be a lot more
competitive than other coaches are going to think. Our expectations would be to
finish in the top half of the conference and hope to be competitive in our
district.”
St. Joseph Christian
St. Joseph Christian Lions had their winningest season in
four years going 19-10 and 5-2 in conference.
They were able to win the Gilman City tournament and finish second in
the Platte Valley Invitational. But this
season will be a rebuilding one for the Lions.
They lose 1st-team all-conference Carson Bowman (16.6 ppg) and 2nd-team
all-conference Camden Lutz (19.3 ppg) along with Brad Boyd and Caleb
Carlson. In all, St. Joseph Christian
loses 87% of their scoring from last season.
All their returning players from last season were
freshman. As they enter their sophomore
season, they will take on the leadership roles for the team. Leading the way will be Nick Orscheln,
Johnston Stewart and Hayden Riley.
Joining them in the starting lineup will be Sophomore Cy Carlson and
Junior Vail Fruechting. Cy had limited
time on varsity last year. Vail joined
the team late last year, playing mostly JV.
Coach Neal Hook said that his expectations are that the Lions
will “play hard and gain experience” this season.
Pattonsburg
Pattonsburg Panthers record of 12-14 (1-6 in conference) was
a bit misleading last season. They had a
tough schedule which included several close losses to good teams. Despite losing the conference leading scorer
at 21.3 ppg in Zane Reed, who also was 1st team all-conference, the
Panthers return 4 starters and top player off the bench. Leading the way is honorable mention
all-conference Sam Coin (8.3 ppg), Gage Iddings (10.2 ppg) and Daltyn Sperry
(9.0 ppg). They are joined by Maesen
Weller and Landon Woodward.
The bench is relatively young and will be looking at
Freshman and Sophomore to find minutes.
Those that are expecting to contribute are Drayson McCrary, Duke Hoover
and Gavin Humphrey. New coach Bill
Pottorff said, “Our expectations are that we play hard each and every game with
lots of intensity on both sides of the ball.”
King City
King City went 6-15 finishing 1-6 in conference last season
which also included their first district win since 2018 when they defeated
Albany. It was the second straight
season that they had improved their win total over the previous season. Despite losing their three leading scorers in
Landon Wells, Parker Muff and Corbin Taylor, the Wildkats have 7 returning
seniors, with 6 of them being in the program all 4 years. The seniors, Ty Mooney, Chase Moss, Samuel
Derks, Hunter Moss, Hunter Hass, Landon Jackson and Mason Kauffman will are
joined by Blakely Eaton, who is the leading returning scorer, plus newcomers
Ryder Sample, Graham Medsker, Darwin Bowden and Josiah Shellhorn.
New coach Lane Schuman said that “These seniors have managed
to improve upon their previous record for 2 consecutive seasons and look to
continue that trend for a third straight year. This year’s squad will need to
pick up their scoring load after losing their top 3 scorers from last season.
These boys are determined and committed to lay the foundation for a more
consistently winning basketball program here in King City.”
North Harrison
North Harrison Shamrocks went 8-19 last season with a 1-6
record in conference. Their highlight of
the season was a consolation victory in the Gilman City tournament defeating
Gilman City. Leading scorers Wade Briggs
and Nick Babinski and starter Brandon Hamilton have departed along Cooper
Cracraft and Matthew Heintz. The Shamrocks will be young this season. The lone senior will be Tyson Gibson, who is
their leading returning scorer at 6.4 ppg.
Junior Keygun Johnson (6.1 ppg) also saw significant minutes from last
season. However, everyone else is either new or someone who had limited playing
time last season.
North Harrison will have 5 freshman and 4 sophomores out of
their 12 players this season. New coach
Justin Joiner said, “We are a very young team with only one Senior. I felt like
we made strides in the right direction over the summer. I am expecting to have
12 kids on the team this year. Based on the work they put in this summer, we
are going to get after it defensively and hopefully be playing our best
basketball towards the end of the season.”
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