Red Devils geared up for new hoop season
CONTRIBUTING PHOTOJOURNALIST
SESSER - The Sesser-Valier Red Devils boys basketball team is looking to regain the same momentum it had at the end of last season.
Last year's team finished with an overall record of 18-14 and tied for second in the conference with a record of 8-4.
The Red Devils have three returning starters from last season: seniors Lukas Gunter and Preston Launius and junior Tyler Winchester.
"We will be very deep this year," said S-V head coach Shane Garner. We have only graduated five seniors in the past two seasons. These guys have been playing together for a couple of years now and we have continued to add more depth each year. We return Gunter, Launius, and Winchester who all started last year.
"Peyton Rock has come back out for his senior year and will definitely have an impact," Garner added. "Addison Page, Joshua Gunter, and Seth Boles all saw quite a bit of playing time last year off the bench. Throw in Eli Gunter, Reid Basso, and Kadin Kiselewski who have all had great summers and start to the season."
Garner hopes that coming off of a successful football season will help fuel the fire for the Red Devils' basketball season, as well.
"Football has been a tremendous help," Garner said.. "Coach (John) Shadowens and his staff did a great job, along with the boys playing. They've set the bar high this year with a culture of winning. That is what we want to carry over during the basketball season. All of our guys who played football this year were very successful on the football field and we look to them having the same success on the court."
The Red Devils will open the regular season at the Du Quoin Tip-Off Classic next Monday.
"We play early-season tournaments to get game experience," Garner said. "We feel this tournament does just that against very good, quality opponents. We love the challenge of playing bigger schools and we get three of them in the same week (Massac County, Carmi and Du Quoin)."
The home opener for the Red Devils will be on Dec. 5 against 1A powerhouse Okawville.
Since the Red Devils don't open the season until Monday, they have had plenty of time to practice. Garner has had nothing but high praise for how his team has performed at practices.
"They've been very competitive," he said. "We switch teams up all the time to keep the competition alive, as well as keeping guys playing with different groups. Guys know that they have to earn playing time every day at practice, because there's another guy right there behind them. With this group we have, we are moving out of the 'learn to play' phase and working on the 'play to learn' phase."
The Black Diamond Conference championship is a goal that the Red Devils have high on their list.
"Goreville and Christopher have the best players," Garner said. "I think everyone can agree to that. I feel our depth and balance will put us right at the top with them."</group><group