Victory Baptist Boys
Victory Baptist Boys
Saints have experience on their side
By Gary Fauber the register-herald
Untimely injuries didn ’ t do much for Victory Baptist last season .
Ethan Hunt , a 1,000-point career scorer going in , started the season with a significant ankle injury . About three-quarters through the year , he suffered a broken hand .
“ At that point he had become more of a role player for us ,” said his dad and coach , Charles Hunt . “ That made it tough on us .”
There was more . Landon Cormican , who had been the team ’ s leading scorer , got pneumonia as the postseason came around .
Despite all that , the Saints put together a 17-12 season .
“ Last year ’ s team wasn ’ t bad . We just didn ’ t finish strong ,” Hunt said .
Ethan Hunt graduated , but the rest of the top players from that team are back . That includes Cormican , now a junior , who averaged 15.4 points per game last season .
“ We do have probably an older team than I ’ ve had in a long time ,” Hunt said . “ We have several seniors , a couple juniors , so that ’ s new , who have been playing for a good while now , seems like several years .”
Cormican , fellow junior Issac Conaway and senior Noah Childers will lead the team as the most experienced players . Conaway averaged 11.4 points and 7.1 rebounds a year ago , while Childers was at 8.4 and 5.2 .
“ Landon is my big scorer ,” Hunt said . “ He ’ s a great defender , gets downhill . He ’ s more of a slash penetrator , downhill scorer .
“ Isaac Conaway is a smart player , decent size . Coming back as a junior , I think he ’ s a lot stronger
Jenny Harnish / The Register-Herald
Victory Baptist ’ s Gabe Childers drives to the basket against Greater Beckley Christian .
this year . He ’ ll play kind of that point-forward-type position .
“ Noah Childers has been a point guard the last couple of years . We may try him at two-guard this year . He ’ s shooting the ball a little bit better this year .”
Also returning to the starting lineup is senior Noah Brush .
“ He will play our other guard , our off guard this year ,” Hunt said . “ He has improved his shot so we look forward to him shooting the ball better .”
Owen Giles , a 6-foot-3 senior , didn ’ t play much last year but will move into the starting lineup .
Also expected to play roles are senior point guard Caden Thomas , junior guard Jacob Davis and sophomore forward Sam Cook .
“ I have a pretty good ninth-grade class coming in ,” Hunt said .
That includes the likes of
Titus Conaway — Isaac ’ s brother — Nathan Dillon and Eli Bowers .
Having an overall more experienced team could play out well for the Saints .
“ We should have a pretty solid team , especially with the maturity we have this year ,” Hunt said . “ It ’ s a fast team ; we can play pretty fast down the floor . It ’ s not a real big team , but it has good speed . Should be good defensively .”
46 • WV SOUTH BASKETBALL