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The James River boys will open the basketball season tonight, Wednesday, against Parry McCluer in Buena Vista. It should be an interesting season for the Knights, who lost three outstanding players from last year’s team.
It’s been nine months since River last played a high school basketball game but the memory lingers. The Knights saw an amazing season come to an end with a double overtime loss to Radford at the Roanoke College Cregger Center in Salem. The matchup, the fourth of the season between two talented Three Rivers District rivals, was for a spot in the state Class 2 championship game in Richmond and Radford won a thriller, 49-47.
The Knights finished the season with a 21-5 record, losing three times to Radford, once to county rival Lord Botetourt and once to Class 3 semifinalist Northside. River had wins over East Rockingham, William Fleming and LB while playing possibly the toughest schedule in the state for a Class 2 team. The Knights graduated starters Patrick Clevenger and Jayson and Corey Easton along with top reserve Ben Bailey from that team.
“We know we have a target on our back given last year’s success,” said River coach Ethan Humphries. “Teams will love to get a crack at us and we’ve invited our guys to embrace the challenge. Right now opposing coaches will recognize one name on our roster as we return one player in our top six of last year’s rotation.”
That player is Ryan Steger, a sharp-shooting senior. He’ll be looked upon to provide even more scoring this season with Clevenger and the Easton brothers gone. Ryan was All-Region in his freshman and junior seasons.
“He’s expected to be our leader on both sides of the ball,” said Humphries. “Knowing the amount of work Ryan has put in gives us confidence heading into every game. He’ll have an entirely new role this year in terms of bringing our team together.”
Seniors George Toliver, Alex Eastman and Andrew Fowler are all expected to be front court contributors and look to provide some much needed physicality.
“Our front court toughness will be crucial to our success and I believe they understand the value they can add,” said Humphries.
Seniors Sam Bell, Conner Church, and Brian Moran will compete for a chance to earn minutes along with juniors Jackson Taylor and Matthew Alderson.
“Each brings something different to the table so we will just have to learn what works best as we progress through the season,” said Humphries.
Ethan looks forward to the challenge of rebuilding the Knights into a competitive team, and building off the confidence last year’s group had.
“I think that excites some of our guys,” said Humphries. “These returners went against an extremely talented group in practice every day last season and have no excuses to not be ready for their moment. Our goal is to end the year having reached our max potential, which right now is hard to predict. We haven’t had a healthy team the first couple of weeks so a lot is still to be learned. Right now we are just trying to be a better version of ourselves each day.”
After tonight’s opener the Knights have little time to rest with a game at Christiansburg scheduled for Thursday. The home opener is next Tuesday, December 6, when Parry McCluer returns the trip.