Summers County Boys
Summers County Boys
Bobcats look to continue progression
By Gary Fauber the register-herald
The last four seasons have seen progressive growth for the Summers County boys basketball program . The Bobcats went from a one-win season in 2020-21 , to nine wins , to 11 wins and finally a 12-9 record last season .
Now in his 11th season as head coach , Robert Bowling naturally wants to keep that momentum rolling . The Bobcats will have to overcome the loss of one of the school ’ s top all-time athletes , but Bowling goes in with a cautious optimism .
“ Sometimes you don ’ t know until you put them out there , but I think our guard play will be very solid , if not good on a lot of nights , and when you have good guards , you can kind of control the tempo of the game ,” Bowling said . “ Our schedule , there ’ s not , maybe , any gimmies on there . We have chance to be in every game . There are a lot of winnable games on our schedule . If we don ’ t end up with a winning record , I ’ d be disappointed . Where that finishes , I don ’ t know . It sort of depends on how some of our young guys progress .”
The biggest loss from last season is Brandan Isaac , a Class AA second-team allstater who went on to sign with Concord .
“ He was a good leader for us ,” Bowling said . “ He ’ s not real demonstrative , doesn ’ t talk a whole lot , but his actions ( spoke ), and he was sort of a calming force on our team . We ’ ll miss his physical attributes and things like that , but we ’ ve also got to find somebody to replace him from a calm ( standpoint ). He gave us some stability . I ’ m not saying we don ’ t have it , but it ’ s going to require some
44 • WV SOUTH BASKETBALL
Rick Barbero / The Register-Herald
Ryan Oliveros , of Summers County , left , tries to block Braxton Waldron , of Westside shot , at the New River CTC Invitational held at the Beckley-Raleigh County Convention Center .
different roles for people .”
Issac wasn ’ t alone . Also gone are Ben Lane , Ayden Plumley and 6-foot-5 center Benji Dunford .
But among the players coming back is another multi-sport athlete in senior Ryan Oliveros . He ’ s coming back not only for his final year on the basketball court , but also back to competition after opting not to play football in the fall .
“ Obviously , he ’ s our most experienced player ,” Bowling said . “ He ’ s got some physical gifts . He ’ s not as big as he was last year ; he ’ s not as thick . But in losing some of that weight , I think he ’ s quicker and faster , a little more agile , which really is his game . He ’ s a slasher . He has spent a lot of time in the gym this fall working on his shot , and also , I think he ’ s probably shooting better than he has in his time with us .”
Junior guard Robie Brown stepped up with some big performances last season .
“ He has really improved since last year ,” Bowling said . “ He ’ s gotten bigger . He ’ s grown a little bit .
He ’ s also gotten stronger . He spent a lot of time in the gym playing . He played a lot this spring . He ’ s been on my butt all fall . ‘ Coach , can we get in the gym ? Coach , can we get in the gym ?’ and so I expect him to really take a big jump this year .”
Senior Ayden Gardner is someone who “ caught people off guard ” last year , Bowling said .
“ He ’ s kind of a forward , really athletic , and spent a lot of time in the gym as well with Robie ,” Bowling said .
Gardner is one of a handful of players who were slowed down by injury in the preseason . The list includes Colsen Elkins and Matthew Cox , both of whom are expected to give the Bobcats some size around the basket .
Damien Fullen grew as a freshman last season .
“ He played more and more throughout the season , and against Bluefield in the sectional , played a bunch of minutes ,” Bowling said .
Junior Eli Franklin was the quarterback on the football team and Bowling looks for that to serve him well on the court .
“ Eli has had a productive summer ,” Bowling said . “ He ’ s a tough kid , hardnosed kid , really coachable , one who wants to do well . I would think being playing quarterback this year probably helped him a little bit in terms of leadership .”
In the first season with no sectional tournaments , Bowling looks for his team to be competitive .
“ We don ’ t have an incredible amount of depth , so there ’ s still some variables out there that will be hard to predict . I would expect this team to have a winning season .”
Email : gfauber @ register-herald . com