The Press-Dispatch
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E-2 Winter Sports Preview Wednesday, November 22, 2017 The Press-Dispatch Pictured above is the 2017-18 Pike Central High School boys' varsity basketball team. They are, first row, left to right: Manager Keevon Owens, Manager Emily Dorsey, Mario Fields, Hayden Kabrick, Christian Benson, Andrew Krieg, Austin Holder, Judah Leathco, Manager Alonzo Barnes and Manager Hannah Beane. Second row: Varsity Assistant Coach Jacob Western, Varsity Assistant Coach Josh Roach, Kaleb Claridge, Kyson Western, Breyton Booker, Bryant Nal- ley, Cameron Henson, Tyler Tormohlen, Nick Hillyard, Varsity Head Coach Hunter Elliott and Varsity Assistant Coach Steve Barrett. Ed Cahill photo Chargers taking aim at third straight sectional title 812-354-8404 292 W. Main St. • Petersburg ACCEPTING NEW PATIENTS Hours: Monday, 9am - 6pm Friday, 8am - 5pm Plus appointments by special arrangement. WALK-INS WELCOME Most insurances accepted. Adults & Children Good Luck! to all Pike Central SPORTS TEAMS! DOUBLE J COLLISION CENTER 812-354-9670 350 W. MAIN, PETERSBURG Hwy. 57, south of town DOUBLE J IS MORE THAN QUALITY COLLISION REPAIR! Tire Sales/Service • Front End Alignments Give us a call today. We'll be happy to give you a quote. Go Chgs! By Ed Cahill A fter winning section- al titles each of the last two years, the Pike Cen- tral High School boys' bas- ketball team will be aiming for a third when the 2017-18 season tips off on Wednes- day, Nov. 22, at Northeast Dubois. The Chargers, however, will have to overcome the loss of five players from last year's team to graduation – Chase Davis, Gabe Elliott, Jared McCord, Colton White and Trey Wornica. Gabe Elliott, who ended his high school career sec- ond on the all-time scoring list with 1,139 points, av- eraged 12.4 points and 6.2 rebounds per game while White, who finished his high school career fourth on the all-time scoring list with 957 points, averaged 11.9 points and 2.5 assists per game. Wornica, meanwhile, aver- aged 10.0 points per game. "We figured it up – we graduated almost 3,000 (career) points, with all the seniors," first-year head coach Hunter Elliott – Gabe Elliott's older broth- er – said. "Gabe and Colton and Trey and Chase, all four of them were cornerstones in the program since they were freshmen, whether they played on the JV lev- el or not. Gabe and Colton stepped right in as fresh- men and started varsity, and you could always count on them." "We have big shoes to fill, for sure," he added. "It's def- initely different not having them around here." Hunter Elliott will be fol- lowing in some pretty big footsteps himself, however, as he succeeds Jason Roach as the Chargers' head coach. Jason Roach, who re- signed in August to take a position as head coach for the boys' basketball team at Evansville North, led Pike Central to three consecutive winning seasons – including back-to-back sectional titles in 2015 -2016 and 2016 -2017 – while compiling a won-loss record of 47-29. Prior to Jason Roach's first season in 2014-15 – when the Chargers went 12- 11 – the boys' program had not finished with a winning record since going 15 -8 dur- ing the 1998 -99 season. Hunter Elliott, who grad- uated from Pike Central in 2007, coached the Pike Cen- tral Middle School eighth grade boys' basketball team for one season – in 2013-14 – before joining Jason Roach's staff as the junior varsity coach the following season. "I've definitely always wanted the opportunity to be able to coach here, and be the head coach here," Hunt- er Elliott, 29, said. "It hap- pened a little sooner than I thought. I thought ( Jason Roach) was definitely going to be here for a while, but I don't blame him. It's in his backyard, and it was a great opportunity. I can see why he took it. But I've always wanted to be the head coach here." "I think the program's in a great spot," he added. "Being able to step in where kids have had that taste of winning ... they want to do that again. They've felt it. These seniors have been there the whole way, and they don't want to go out any other way." Hunter Elliott inherits a Chargers' team that re- turns seniors Breyton Book- er, Kaleb Claridge, Cameron Henson, Nick Hillyard, Bry- ant Nalley, Tyler Tormohlen and Kyson Western, four of whom – Booker, Kaleb Clar- idge, Henson and Nalley – saw extensive varsity play- ing time last year as juniors. "They're a special group," Hunter Elliott said of the se- niors. "Gabe's group gets a lot of pub, and deservedly so, but this group has a lot of potential. Even in eighth grade, we all knew that they were special, and they're definitely a unit. They've al- ways stuck together. They're all best friends. We saw that potential early on, for sure." Nalley, a 6 -foot-5 forward, led the Chargers in scoring with 13.6 points per game last season while averaging 5.9 rebounds, 1.5 assists and 1.3 steals per game. He was named to the Pocket Ath- letic Conference's All-Con- ference Team and received honorable mention acco- lades on the Indiana Basket- ball Coaches Association/ Subway All-State team. "Bryant's one of the best players in the area," Hunter Elliott said of Nalley, who enters his senior campaign with 823 career points. "I don't think there's any rea- son that he shouldn't be able to dominate every sin- gle game." "I think he's really de- veloped his game, really worked hard on having the outside shot and getting stronger," Hunter Elliott added. "I mean, he's played a lot of basketball at the var- sity level." Henson, also a 6 -foot-5 for- ward, averaged 4.9 points, 2.3 rebounds and 1.3 as- sists last season. He was also second on the team with 29 three-pointers, hitting 32.6 percent of 89 shots from be- yond the three-point line. "Cam's a kid that's grown a ton," Hunter Elliott said. "He's really long and he can really shoot the ball. He's very athletic, and he's really matured this past year, I feel like. A fter paying with those guys last year and being able to play a little bit of a lesser role and defer to them, this year he's really stepped up and is being more of a lead- er." "When he gets hot, he's hot," he added. "He can shoot the ball and we're go- ing to ask him to do a whole lot of things, defend in a whole lot of different posi- tions this year. We expect a lot from him." Booker, a 6 -foot-2 guard, averaged 5.2 points and 1.2 steals per game last season. "Book's very explosive," Hunter Elliott said. "Last year, he was kind of a spark for us at times, and some- times we'd rely on him to carry us. I think this year we'll do the same. In isola- tion situations, it's tough for anyone to guard him one-on- one. He can just make a lot of things happen – he can drive, he can shoot, he's a really good defender." Booker, Hunter Elliott added, would be counted on to help on rebounding. "A lot of the summer, Bry- ant was hurt, so we kind of played through Booker a lot," Hunter Elliott said. "I think that was good for him, to kind of know, 'Hey, this is your team. You've got to run with it as well.' So now we've got both of them back. Hope- fully, they can kind of be that one-two punch that's really, really tough to stop." Kaleb Claridge, a 5 -foot-10 guard, will be counted on to handle the basketball, Hunt- er Elliott said. "Freshman year, he didn't want to play, and when Jason got here, I remember going to him and saying, 'We have to have him. He's a winner,'" Hunter Elliott recalled. "He's going to do whatever it takes to win. He's going to fight tooth-and-nail with anybody." "He's a great defend- er, and a great leader. He's worked on his shot a whole lot this offseason, and he's going to be our leader. He's our guy. He's going to have the ball in his hands a lot. Defensively, he just works his tail off, and he can guard just about anybody – and we're going to ask him to." Kyson Western, a 5 -foot-11 guard, saw limited action on the varsity level last season, appearing in just 10 games. "Kyson's kind of (Kaleb) Claridge's running mate," Hunter Elliott said. "They're both defensively are just go- ing to be able to hound peo- ple and really create a lot of pressure." "They're kind of our lead- ers, and that's what I've told them," Hunter Elliott added. "They're our heart and soul. We're going to go when they get us fired up and they get us going. Kyson's going to have a huge role for us this year." Tormohlen, a 6 -foot-1 ju- nior, also saw limited action on the varsity level last sea- son, appearing in just five games. "He can really shoot the ball," Hunter Elliott said. "He's very skilled offensive- ly and he's grown a little bit in height, he's gotten stron- ger and he's gotten more athletic. This summer, he just did a fantastic job, and even so far this season in practices." Hillyard, a 6 -foot-1 for- ward/center, saw most of his action last season on the ju- nior varsity while appearing in just four varsity contests. "He is definitely a spark," Hunter Elliott said. "He can come in and he can just fill it up, right from the gate. He can shoot really well, and just has a knack for scoring." "It was always trying to get him to play defense and do everything else, and he's really kind of bought into that this year," he added. "Hopefully, he can be that spark to come in and be able to hit two or three threes in a row and just really give us the lift that we need." Juniors Christian Ben- son, Austin Holder, Hayden Kabrick, Andrew Krieg and Judah Leathco and sopho- more Mario Fields round out the varsity roster. Benson, a 5 -foot-11 guard, will be counted on to play de- fense as well as handle the ball on the offensive end. "He just loves to play and he can do a whole lot of things," Hunter Elliott said. "It will be an adjustment for him, for sure, but he'll be able to come in and help us out." Holder, a 5 -foot-11 guard, will be counted on to play solid defense, according to Hunter Elliott. "I always tell him, defen- See THREE on 3 We have big shoes to fill, for sure. It's definitely different not having them (se- niors) around here." -Coach Hunter Elliott " VARSITY BASKETBALL BOYS'