Greenbrier West Boys
Greenbrier West Boys
Cavaliers must replace a wealth of talent
By Dave Morrison for the register-herald
Greenbrier West would have had a tough time replacing first-team all-stater Braydon McClung , the area ’ s leading scorer at 22.5 ppg last season .
But bad went to worse when the Cavaliers lost returning three-year starter Isaac Agee , expected to be the centerpiece , and Logan Berry , a key reserve , to football injuries .
That has head coach Jared Robertson scrambling for replacements .
“ Isaac Agee would have been our go-to senior leader ,” Robertson said . “ He would have been a lock down defender . Our first goal is to replace the leadership we are losing without him .
“ Logan Berry is a junior that would have been in the rotation . He would have given us another post player that can make shots so that is another weapon we have to replace .”
Last season Greenbrier West lost to James Monroe in a Region 3 co-final to finish off a 13-12 season that had its share of ups and downs .
“ We had a good win early beating Trinity in a Christmas tournament and then a good win fairly late beating Midland Trail , we just couldn ’ t quite get consistent enough to go from being a solid basketball team to an upper-level basketball team ,” Robertson said .
There are some parts returning , and there is some size .
“ We have the potential to play 6-5 , 6-4 and 6-3 at the same time to really give us some size that will hopefully be a weapon in Class A ,” Robertson said .
Colton Dunbar returns as the starter at center . He averaged 6.2 points per game but will be counted on for more this season .
12 • WV SOUTH BASKETBALL
Jenny Harnish / The Register-Herald
Greenbrier West ’ s Colton Dunbar drives to the basket while James Monroe ’ s Wil Boggess defends during the game in Charmco .
“ He is 6-foot-4 and a strong kid and only a junior ,” Robertson said . “ He has really worked hard to become better around the basket on both ends of the floor . I expect him to have a great year this season .”
Aiden Crane , 6-3 , played some off the bench and averaged 2.3 points .
“ He is an outside shooter on offense and does a nice job in the front of our trapping zones with his length ,” Robertson said . “ He is the one that early on has stepped in and given us some senior leadership in practice .”
Asher Barclay took a year off from hoops , but the 6-5 senior has returned . He averaged 3.1 ppg as a sophomore .
“ He has really filled out since his sophomore season , and he could really have a good year for us ,” Robertson said .
Randy Keener is another player who will figure into the mix somewhere after playing well off the bench last year .
“ He isn ’ t really big , only about 6-foot tall , but I doubt you find someone that is stronger than he is , and he can really jump . He is a senior and basketball means a lot to him , so I hope he can help provide some leadership as well .”
There are a lot of players that could help at guard , where McClung will be missed .
Junior Kamden Sams , sophomore Isaac Crane and senior Dakota McKinney are players who will get shots and Shane Plogger , Ben McDaniel and Jesse Walkup are sophomores who are working to become consistent enough to figure into the rotation at some point .
Like with the football program , there is a young , talented freshman class waiting in the wings .
In a day of reclassification talk , Class A remains nearly the same , with one exception . But talent remains .
“ Our region is fairly similar to what it has been ,” Robertson said . “ Our annual regional game foe of James Monroe has moved up to AA , but most of the teams are the same . With the new format , you can kind of ignore the ‘ sectional ’ teams now and look at the entire region , but our kids feel like we can compete .
“ Top to bottom there are a lot of solid programs . Webster County has been a state power year after year . Greater Beckley has a lot of talented kids returning . River View won a pile of ball games last year . Mount View rebounded from their unfortunate situation the year before to win almost half their games . Montcalm has a lot of talented kids — almost beat us late in the season last year .
“ Our two local rivals Richwood and Meadow Bridge both have some very good players returning and some incoming young guys that can play . We may lose more than anyone else in the region and we know we have a mountain to climb in terms of experience .”