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Warrior boys basketball team has State aspirations

Return a talented, veteran group

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Washington High School boys basketball coach TJ Scholz said he wouldn’t say he thinks his team has a chance to make State if he didn’t mean it.

“We’re really excited and think we have a chance to be really good,” Scholz said. “I honestly think we have a chance to make State, and even win it.”

Scholz, who enters his seventh season at the helm for the Warriors, returns a veteran group. It includes seniors Jamison Holland, Tony Trejo, Kobe Scott, Evan Andrews, Hector Quinonez, Lane Steele and Luke Hendrix.

Also returning are juniors Cash Andrews and Hayden Hicks, who both have starting experience and have played tons of minutes in their careers.

Rayce Castor will provide more experience after transferring in from Alex, where he played point guard.

“We had a good summer and played a lot of good competition,” Scholz said. “We played bigger schools and got beat up on some. But then we went to team camp and beat up on 3A teams.”

The Warriors will rely on their experience as a strength this season.

“We have seniors and juniors who have been starting since they were freshmen and sophomores,” Scholz said. “With their experience they can understand a lot more and we don’t have to rep new stuff a bunch of times.”

Offensively Scholz looks to play some five-out sets and take advantage of spacing.

“We have more sets installed this year than in years past,” Scholz said. “I’m trying to make sure they know what we’re doing offensively based on what defense we’re going against. They need to recognize defenses and communicate it with their teammates.”

The coach says while the team needs to shoot the ball better overall several players have been shooting well.

He named Quinonez, Hicks and Cash Andrews – whose basketball I.Q. is “off the charts.”

“He has good vision and he’s a pass-first guy, but we’ll need him to score more,” Scholz said.

Trejo is another player who “can hit a ton of threes,” according to Scholz.

The offense will try to push the ball more this season, even after made shots.

Defensively, the plan is to play primarily man-to-man but they will mix in other looks.

“With the experience these guys have we can run more defenses,” Scholz said. “And Kobe, Luke and Lane can use their track speed and length on defense. Those guys have a natural knack for keeping their eye on the ball.”

Scholz will utilize his deep bench as another strength this season but will have to balance getting in fresh legs with affecting the rhythm of the game.

“We’re really excited and have high expectations with this group,” Scholz said. “Our conference will prepare us as the year goes on. How quickly can we get the football guys back in rhythm will be key.”

Notes

Washington was 17-9 last season and were put out by Jones, 57-54, in Regionals.

They lost five seniors from last season – Ellis Tontz, Kenneth Love III, Kelton Schultz, Jaxon Sanchez and Graham Schovanec.

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