Guard play will be big for Westside
By Dave Morrison for the register-herald
clear fork – The key to Westside ’ s season , the first in the Thomas Evans era , may come down to whether his team gets a point .
Evans , a state champion at Oceana , which consolidated with Baileysville in 2002 to form Westside , said it is a point of emphasis . The point guard .
He has Dale Bledsoe returning for his senior year , and there is no doubt the two-year starter can play the position , having done so on two Region 3 co-finalist teams .
But he is also the team ’ s best option at shooting guard .
Last season Bledsoe averaged 8.6 points .
Outside of Bledsoe , the two Kylers , sophomores Kyler Kenneda and Kyler Reed might be the best option . Or it can be a mixture of all three .
Bledsoe has the experience .
“ He is a quiet player , he doesn ’ t say a whole lot ,” Evans said . “ Just by definition a point guard has to be a leader . and he does his leading by example . He is also an outstanding shooter , and we may need more of that from him . I have more of a traditional view of what a point guard is , distributing the ball and Dale is more of a shooter .”
As for the young Kylers , it is up to them whether
48 • WV SOUTH BASKETBALL
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Jim Cook / For The Register-Herald
Westside ’ s Dale Bledsoe drives in for a one-handed layup .
Evans can shift Bledsoe to the shooting guard where he can light t up from outside and give the Renegades that outside threat to go with what looks to be a lengthy inside game .
“ I tell the young guys all the time of they are ready to play I won ’ t hesitate to put them on the floor ,” Evans said . “ Reed is super athletic and is good ( handling ) the basketball . He is more of a straightline guy . Kenneda is more of the prototypical point guard , he sees the floor well , distributes . The question on both is are they ready for the speed of the high school game .”
The Renegades do have some nice size down low in 6-3 junior Ashton Reed and 6-5 sophomore Bryson Blankenship . Both have faced injury problems over the last year .
Reed ’ s knee injury caused him to miss eight football games this past fall . But he recently received full clearance and is ready to go .
“ I haven ’ t seen any limitations with his knee , and honestly I don ’ t see any limitations with his game ,” Evans said . “ When he is on hi game , he can take over a game and I saw signs of that last season .”
Reed averaged 8.7 points per game and eight of his nine double figure games came in the last 12 games including a career-high 25 points against Tolsia .
Blankenship missed six games early last season and finished the season averaging 4.4 points . His high of 12 points came against Independence .
“ He shot up to about
6-foot-5 and like Ashton , he has unlimited potential and can really be a big factor for us and what we are trying to build here ,” Evans said . “ He has the tools to be a great player in this program .”
Two players expected to make an impact this season include Hunter Lester , who averaged 7.3 points per game las year and had eight double figure games , including a career-best 13 twice and Kody Blackburn , a shooter who finished with 12 3s a year ago ( 2.2 ppg average ).
“( Lester ) is a super athletic player who is a defensive type of player ,” Evans said . “ But is also a slasher who can get to the rim and Blackburn is an outstanding 3-point shooter . We ’ re going to have to find minutes for him .”
Football quarterback Kadien Vance , who spent a sizable portion of the summer working on both his crafts , including basketball , Gaige McKnight , who got a little varsity run last year , Parker Lambert and a pair of Mingo Central transfers in Austin and Brayden Bishop could also see time .
A player who could surface at some point and could eventually play into the point guard question is Braxton Waldron .
The Renegades are back in Class AA after two years in Class AAA . While the Renegades and Wyoming East won ’ t play in the regular season , the Renegades have added some old rivalries back on the schedule , Evans said , including Bluefield , Man and Tug Valley .
Evans , a native of Oceana , a middle school coach in Wyoming County for four years and a lawyer by trade , replaced seven-year coach Shawn Jenkins who is now at Independence .
Key losses for the Renegades were graduated seniors Evan Colucci and Shandell Adkins .