Meadow Bridge Boys
Meadow Bridge Boys
Wildcats looking at new faces , new style
By Steve Keenan the fayette tribune
The Meadow Bridge Wildcats will change it up some this winter out of necessity .
After losing three starters from 2023-24 who provided a large percentage of the offense and leadership for the boys squad , head coach Brandon Wickline says he ’ s looking at altering his team ’ s style of play somewhat to match the personnel he will have on hand for the coming season .
Meadow Bridge closed out a 4-19 season last year with a 102-60 setback to Greenbrier West in the Class A Region 3 , Section 2 semifinals .
Senior starters lost from that squad included leading scorer Brycen Sawyers ( more than 20 points per game ), Blake Bennett and Cordell Mc- Clung . “ They ’ re hard to replace as kids first of all . All three were great kids as far as leadership , and especially Brycen ’ s scoring ,” said Wickline . “ Sometimes , it was get the ball to him and let him go ; in a lot of cases , it wasn ’ t fair to him .”
Starters back in the fold include 6-foot-1 junior Kaiden Sims and 6-0 sophomore Trent Roles . Roles scored about 9.5 points per game last year , and Sims checked in with about 7.5 points per night . “ Kaiden , people have seen him in football ; the kid is a freak of an athlete ,” said Wickline . “ He ’ s going to be our biggest kid . Trent is going to have to score more ; the kid has the best court vision I ’ ve seen in a long time .” Wickline envisions putting Sims and Roles in two-man game situations often .
Jenny Harnish / The Register-Herald
Meadow Bridge ’ s Trent Roles , right , returns to the starting lineup for the Wildcats this season .
“ We ’ re going to be pretty athletic ,” he said . “ You ’ re going to see a lot of pressure and running the floor from us .
“ I think we ’ re going to be fun to watch . We ’ re going to pressure , push the basketball and probably going to shoot more 3s than I like . With the style we ’ re playing , we ’ re probably going to go deeper than we have in the past .”
Besides Sims and Roles , two other players were already penciled into the starting five as of Week 1 . Tony Martin , a 5-10 junior , “ got minutes for us last year and is a good defender and athletic kid ,” and 5-9 senior Jakob Bowman is coming back from missing last season due to a knee injury . “ He can shoot the ball ; he ’ s a knock-down 3- point shooter ,” Wickline said of Bowman .
Another player who didn ’ t play last year , junior Chase Callison , is athletic and will be among those pushing for a starting role .
Sophomores vying for court time will include Isaac Black and Keaton Rozell . Freshmen expected to be in the mix include Hudson Kincaid , Jonah Fox and Cameron Gipson .
“ It ’ s open ; they show me they want to play hard , they ’ re going to get on the floor ,” Wickline said . “ If they don ’ t want to play hard , they ’ ll sit on the bench .”
Wickline , in his fourth year , said he lightened the schedule up a little this year , including dropping James Monroe and Summers County . Playing teams such as them made the team “ better for sectionals ,” but he said he ’ s steering the Wildcats into more of a Class A-centric slate .
He hopes the team will improve on its win total from a year ago . Hosting one of the single-A co-finals at season ’ s end is “ the expectation for myself , and the kids have talked about it ,” Wickline said . “ We ’ re going to be tough ; we ’ re athletic .”
The first week of practice was slowed somewhat by the Wildcats being in the Class A football playoffs , which were delayed due to court action . “ I have 22 players now , and 10 were available at basketball practice ( the opening day ),” said Wickline , also an assistant coach for the grid squad . “ At Meadow Bridge , we share every athlete we have .”
Meadow Bridge opens the regular season on Dec . 10 with a 7:30 p . m . home game against Sherman .
Email : skeenan @ registerherald . com ; follow on Facebook
Follow on Twitter @ gb _ scribe
24 • WV SOUTH BASKETBALL