Saints look to get over the hump
By Gary Fauber the register-herald
The goal for the Victory Baptist boys basketball team this season is simple : Win one more game than it did each of the last two seasons .
Each of those two years saw the Saints improve as things went along , then fall just short in the West Virginia Christian Education Association championship game .
“ Last year was sort of a duplicate of the year before ,” veteran Victory Baptist coach Charles Hunt said . “ We dealt with some injuries then ended up coming together at the end of the year and same result basically , a loss in the championship of the WVCEA tournament .”
The Saints ended with a 14-10 record and runner-up season behind a young team . The starting lineup included an eighth-grader , freshman and sophomore .
The lone starter gone from a year ago is Brett Cormican . The 6-foot-3 guard averaged
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14.2 points and a team-high 8.9 rebounds per game .
“ He was pretty solid ,” Hunt said . “ With the youth of the team , as the senior he was the guy who kind of held it together a lot .”
Returning to the starting lineup this season are senior forward Micah Thomas and junior guard Ethan Hunt . They were the team ’ s top point producers last season , Thomas averaging 16.0 per game and Hunt 15.5 .
Thomas was a hair behind Cormican in rebounds at 8.8 , and Hunt grabbed 4.1 .
“ Micah ’ s a good shooter and he ’ s strong around the rim ,” Charles Hunt said . “ Good offensive rebounder , long . Then you have Ethan , more of a one-slash-two guard . He shoots the ball pretty good . We look for him to do much more dribble penetration this year .”
Sophomore guard Noah
Childers ( 4.5 ppg , 2.5 rpg ) will handle the one and two guard positions .
“ Noah has pretty good quickness , fast ,” Hunt said .
Freshman guard Landon Cormican got some experience last season .
“ He ’ s a very good defender ,” Hunt said .
Another freshman , Isaac Conway , averaged 4.3 points and 4.2 rebounds per game a year ago .
“ We look for him to give us consistent scoring this year ,” Hunt said . “ He started all year as an eighth-grader last year .”
Getting experience as young players should help Victory Baptist this season .
“ The speed of play doesn ’ t seem to affect them as much ,” Hunt said . “ But you still deal with the youth of maybe not being physically or mentally as
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strong as what a senior would be .”
Senior Grant Pauley is “ a pretty good shooter ” who will get minutes off the bench this winter . Another senior , Gabe Childers will serve as a utility player , Hunt said .
Hunt believes team speed will be a strength this season .
“ They ’ re fast ,” he said . “ The speed of play should be good .”
The Saints would love to get over the hump and raise the championship in February . They last won the title in 2017 .
“ It ’ s going to be kind of an up-and-down start with all the youth we have ,” Hunt said . “ But we should be able to compete by the end of the year .”
Email : gfauber @ register-herald . com ; follow on Twitter @ gfauber5
SCHEDULE
Dec . 20 ............................................................................................................................................................. vs . Morgantown Christian Jan . 6 ..................................................................................................................................................................... vs . Pipestem Christian Jan . 13 ..................................................................................................................................................................... vs . Lewisburg Baptist Jan . 16 .......................................................................................................................................................... at Greater Beckley Christian Jan . 17 ............................................................................................................................................................... vs . Teays Valley Christian Jan . 20 ..................................................................................................................................................................... at Elk Valley Christian Jan . 23 ................................................................................................................................................................ at Cross Lanes Christian Jan . 31 ....................................................................................................................................................................... at Lewisburg Baptist Feb . 3 ....................................................................................................................................................................... at Pipestem Christian Feb . 10 ......................................................................................................................................................................... vs . Grace Christian