The graduations of Jaxon Dill and Ty Kemp cost boys’ basketball coach Jackson Embry a couple of high-scoring post players who accounted for two-thirds of the team’s points a season ago.

Dill scored 1,891 points in his Wayne career while Kemp finished with 989 points and more than 1,000 rebounds.

Embry, though, isn’t overly concerned.

That’s because in returning starters Ben Fisher, Cameron Davis and Sloan Jackson, he has three guards who can score and defend.

Fisher, a senior, averaged 12 points a game for Wayne in a complimentary role last season but will counted on to score more this season.

“He’s the heart of our team,” Embry said. “If he’s on the floor, we’re better. He’s a tremendous leader, and he’s kind of taken that role of not just being the guy but the guy in the locker-room as well.”

The 5’ 8” point guard showed what he’s capable of with a 19-point, eight assist effort in the Bulldogs’ season-opener, a 61-59 loss to Macomb on Nov. 18.

Three days later, Fisher had 29 points and eight rebounds in a 62-49 win over Rush Springs.

Against Macomb, the Bulldogs led 36-21 at halftime and had a 13-point advantage early in the fourth quarter when Fisher started cramping up and had to come out of the game.

He missed seven of the final 10 minutes.

“When he was in, we were rolling,” Embry said. “He stepped into his role and played it well. I feel confident saying that if he doesn’t cramp up, I think that it’s a different outcome.”

Davis scored 12 points against Macomb and 15 points against Rush Springs, while Jackson combined eight points in the two games, according to Embry, who is entering his fifth year as the Bulldogs’ coach.

Wayne also has a couple of young post players who have been waiting in the wings to show what they can do.

Sophomores Langstyn McClendon and Brody Kemp will step into starting roles after coming off the bench a season ago.

“He’s super explosive,” Embry said of Kemp. “Doesn’t shoot the ball tremendously well, but he does a great job of getting downhill and getting to the rim and getting to the free throw line and making things happen for everybody else.”

Kemp contributed six points and eight rebounds in the team’s first game.

The 6’ 2” McClendon brings a different set of skills to the Wayne attack, according to his coach.

“He shoots the ball at a very high rate,” Embry said. “Last year as a freshman coming off the bench, he shot 48% from 3 (point range).

“In his first start for the Bulldogs, McClendon had 12 points, 12 rebounds and eight blocks against Macomb. He followed that up with eight points and 14 rebounds in the win over Rush Springs.

“He played all 32 minutes, never came off the floor,” Embry said following the Macomb game. “Langston, he’s that kid, you’re going to get the same kid no matter if it’s a scrimmage or a championship game. He’s never going to differ in his mentality or his effort.”

Other players expected to contribute include junior Riley Taylor, a 5’ 9” junior who will compete for a starting spot, and 5’ 9” junior Eli Stottlemyre.

Both players have bulked up since last season, with Taylor adding 21 pounds and Stottlemyre adding 18 pounds, according to Embry.

Alan Martinez, a lanky post player at 6’ 3”, will also compete for playing time for Wayne, which is back in action with a home game against Elmore City on Tuesday, Dec. 2.

The Bulldogs play at Empire on Friday, Dec. 5.

Embry likes the nucleus of his squad, which he says is unselfish.

“This whole group is. There are no egos,” he said. “This is probably the best overall team I’ve ever had. There’s not really an individual that’s going to (carry the team). Each night it’s going to change.

“Ben Fisher, he’s, our constant. But whoever scores the second most points might change every night. They all bring their own unique style to it.”

Girls

Embry has high hopes for his girls’ basketball team, which won 12 of 24 games last season.

“All of our production is back, so we expect to, like the boys, make an Area tournament and see where the chips fall after that.”

Unlike the boys’ team, which likes to play fast, the girls are more methodical in their approach, Embry said.

“We’ve got two really athletic girls. The rest are kind of just high IQ girls,” he said. “We’re not going to beat ourselves. We don’t turn the ball over a whole lot. We do the small, fine details right.”

Like the boys’ team, the Lady Bulldogs “thrive” on their defense.

“Offensively, we don’t play as fast,” Embry said. “We want to set up our offense ... we want to try to set up disadvantages on either side of the floor and really focus on getting the ball into the post. Kind of let our offense go through the post instead of our guards, like the boys do.”

That is where junior Taelyn Ringwald, who scored a combined 667 points in her freshman and sophomore seasons, can be found along with freshman Natalie Knobloch.

Ringwald picked up where she left off in Wayne’s season-opening 49-44 win over Macomb on Nov. 18 with 22 points, 14 rebounds and three steals.

She added another double-double —12 points, 12 rebounds and three steals —in the team’s 43-31 win over Rush Springs on Nov. 21.

“She can light it up,” Embry said. “And Audra Watts is right there on her heels.”

Watts, a junior who started last season, had 13 points, eight rebounds and six steals against Macomb. She added seven points, eight rebounds and four steals against Rush Springs.

Embry speaks highly of the 5-foot-10 Knobloch, a player Embry said is “very exceptional.”

“She’s got just a knack for the ball,” he said. “She’s everywhere defensively. She brings a dynamic to our defense.

Knobloch contributed seven points, 13 rebounds and five steals in the win over

Macomb, and added 11 points, 11 rebounds and six steals against Rush Springs.

Other players expected to contribute for Wayne include Maddie Moreno and Coral Vasquez.

Moreno dished out 16 assists in the two wins, while Vasquez combined for 12 points.

The Lady Bulldogs return to action with a home game against Elmore City on Tuesday, Dec. 2. The Bulldogs play at Empire on Friday, Dec. 5.