Jets, Crusaders among area basketball teams with little varsity experience

Experience will be at a premium for a few area teams heading into this year’s boys basketball season.

Hauser, Columbus Christian, Brown County and Trinity Lutheran all sustained heavy graduation losses and will field young and inexperienced teams this winter. Hauser, Brown County and South Decatur also have new coaches.

The past two days, we have previewed Columbus North and Columbus East. Today, we look at Hauser, Columbus Christian and the other five area teams:

Hauser

It’s a new coach and a mostly new and young team at Hauser this season. Former JV coach Trent Moorhead takes over a team that will play a lot of sophomores and freshmen.

“We’re young, but we’re and eager group, coachable and very hard-working,” Moorhead said. “This group is unique. Our varsity experience are all sophomore players. We lost a lot, but we’re excited about guys stepping up and filling those roles for us.”

Hauser’s Taeshaun Tungate drives to the basket past Henryville’s Hayden Barbour Saturday Dec. 11 at Hauser High School.

The Republic file photo

The Jets return a pair of starters in 5-foot-8 sophomore Alex Cord and 6-1 sophomore Taeshaun Tungate from last year’s 11-15 squad. Ledger Gelfius, a 6-0 sophomore, and 5-7 senior Alex Bower also saw varsity action.

Owen McIntyre, a 6-2 senior, is back after missing last season with a knee injury. Four freshmen — 6-0 Jake Barriger, 5-8 Stryker Gill, 5-11 Gavin Keller and 6-1 Kameron Blair — could make varsity contributions.

Also pushing for playing time will be 6-2 junior Taylen Absher, 6-3 junior Sam Taylor — a transfer from Southwestern (Shelby) — and 6-0 sophomore Jentzen Bechtel.

“Last year, we had Koby (Johnson) and Bryce (Bates), who were big and beefy,” Moorhead said. “We’re more lean and lanky right now, which is fine. We’re quick. We’re playing to the strengths of a new team this year. It will be interesting to see how that plays out on the court. We’re building a new identity with a new group.”

Sophomore Collin Buck, who played a little varsity last year, underwent knee surgery and will miss this season. But he figures in the future plans with the core of this year’s team.

“We want to have continued improvement throughout the entire season,” Moorhead said. “We want to win games and be competitive, but we’re focused on winning habits and building the right culture for this season and seasons to come, as well. I think that’s really important for our young group. We’re excited about the future, and we’re eager to get going this season.”

Columbus Christian

The Crusaders began their season on Saturday with a 56-42 win against Clinton Christian.

Columbus Christian was led in that game by two of its three returning varsity players — 6-2 junior Peyton Walden, who had 23 points and 12 rebounds, and 6-2 senior Noah Edwards, who added 12 points and nine rebounds. Edwards averaged 10.1 points and 7.6 rebounds as a starter for last year’s team that went 21-19.

Senior Cam Pritchard also saw significant action last season. Top newcomers are senior Jordan Burton, eighth-grader Jacob Bell, junior Branson Carr and freshmen Adam Haines and Cannon Carr.

Also new to the varsity this season are sophomore Ben Halsey, freshmen Jaxson Games and Justice Young and eighth-grader Brian Fox.

“Losing five seniors and having another one move away, we’re basically a new squad,” Columbus Christian coach Kevin Roth said.

Jennings County

The Panthers have high hopes for this season with plenty of experience returning from a team that went 14-9 and lost to eventual sectional champion Floyd Central in double overtime in the opening round.

“We had a really good summer and a good first week of practice,” Jennings coach Josh Land said. “I think that we’re right there competing for conference and sectional championship, like we have really the last two years. This is the year we’ve been pointing to for a long time. This group knows what it takes.”

Keegan Manowitz, a 5-9 senior point guard, led the Panthers with 10.3 points, 5.2 assists and 1.3 rebounds and added 3.0 rebounds last season. Owen Law, a 6-3 senior, and 6-7 senior Justin Ramey also were starters.

Lane Zohrlaut, a 6-3 senior, along with 5-10 sophomore Carter Kent and 5-8 junior Cole Sigler, all played major minutes last season. Two other seniors — 5-10 Darius Thomas and 6-2 Cole Marksberry — also played some varsity.

“We do have a lot of experience and talent, especially at the guard position,” Land said.

Edinburgh

The Lancers have been one of the state’s top small-school programs the past two years, going a combined 40-10. They went 22-4 last year, winning a sectional title and falling by one point in the regional semifinals to eventual Class A state champion North Daviess.

“We obviously graduated a few key pieces there, but we have some guys coming back, and we have some younger guys that are going to step in and fill some of those voids for us,” Edinburgh coach Keith Witty said. “Even though we graduated some pieces, we have decent pieces left over.”

The top one of those pieces is 6-3 senior Caleb Dewey, who led the Lancers with 21.2 points, 3.1 assists and 2.1 steals and added 6.4 rebounds last season. Jarrett Turner, a 6-0 senior point guard, added 9.8 points, 2.5 assists and 1.9 steals.

Connor Ramey, 5-11 sophomore, and 6-3 senior Braylon Bryant also saw significant action last season. Keegan Smith, a 6-4 senior Keegan Smith, will fill the other post position.

Looking to provide depth will be 6-0 junior Austin Brockman, 6-2 sophomore Jackson Hartwell and 5-10 senior Devyn Milburn, along with 5-11 senior Blaze Jensen and 5-9 senior Tanner Kohr.

“We’re going to be a different looking team because we still have height, but we don’t have the thickness we’ve had in the past,” Witty said. “We have the shooting. We have some ball-handling. The expectations are still pretty high for this group to continue the success we’ve had the past couple of years.”

South Decatur

The Cougars have a new coach in Jason Hacker, a Greenwood resident and former travel basketball coach. He replaces Kendall Wildey, who led a resurgence in the South Decatur program the past six years.

“We changed everything,” Hacker said. “We’ve really emphasised defense. We’ve talked about being tougher on the defensive end. We want to hold you under 50 points, and we’re going to try hard to do that. We’ve worked a lot on passing.”

The Cougars lost the state’s leading scorer in Hunter Johnson (31.9 ppg) from last year’s 13-11 squad, but return 6-0 junior point guard Jacob Scruggs, who averaged 16.0 points and a team-leading 4.0 assists and 2.0 steals. Dale Peters, a 6-2 senior, added 8.5 points and 3.9 rebounds.

Jason Hacker also has brought along his son, 6-5 junior Dorian Hacker, who transferred from Center Grove.

“Those three have really jelled, and then I have a whole bunch of role players that want to be here,” Jason Hacker said.

Those role players include 5-11 junior Colby Rathburn, 6-0 senior Avery Seegers and 5-11 freshman Drake Skaggs. Cam Henderson, a 6-1 senior, and 6-5 junior Damon Gearhardt also could see action.

“We’re looking really good,” Jason Hacker said. “I have a really great group. Everyone is collectively after the same thing, and especially at the 1A level, we’re going to compete.”

Brown County

The Eagles also have a new coach in Ronnie Lewis. Lewis played high school and college basketball in Texas, but this is his first coaching job.

Lewis will look to lead a turnaround from a 2-20 season that included losses in its last 19 games.

“They’re certainly making progress,” Lewis said. “The big thing the have going for them is that they’ve been playing together for a long time. We’re super young, freshman- and sophomore-loaded. It’s kind of exciting to be starting from scratch.”

Brown County will have only two players with varsity experience — junior Brady Bond and sophomore Jesse Hubbard. The top newcomers are freshman Cash Harden, freshman point guard Eli Wrightsman and sophomore Noah Lewis.

Freshmen Billy Hubbard and Weston Fulford, sophomore Eli Harden and senior newcomer Caleb Hammond also could see action.

“They know the game, but at this age, you don’t know everything,” Lewis said. “They have a lot to learn. They’re jumping into the basics, and then we’ll build from there.”

Trinity Lutheran

The Cougars lost all of their significant contributors from last year’s 9-15 team and will field a squad of mostly players from a 15-5 JV team.

“We had a good JV season last year, and those guys are going to be our varsity players now,” Trinity coach Brad Dickey said. “We’re starting over as far as varsity goes, but they have a lot of spirit. They had a lot of success at the JV level, but they will have to transfer that to varsity experience. It’s totally different, and they know that, but they have something to work with, and that’s what they’re doing.”

Moving up to the varsity this season are 5-11 junior Levi Pottschmidt, 6-0 senior Eli Ballard, 6-1 senior Luke Coomler, 6-1 junior Josh Conrad, 6-3 junior Kowan Gross, 6-1 junior Peyton Pollert, 6-0 junior Charlie Hackman and 6-1 senior Levi Froedge.

Dickey also will look to a pair of freshmen — 6-2 Kole Shewmaker and 5-7 Jack Stuckwisch — to contribute.

“They’re all going to appear for sure,” Dickey said. “There maybe two or three more that will make and appearance, but I think the bulk of our play will come from the seniors and that junior class that had success at the JV level. They’re adapting as well as they can.”

The 2022-23 boys basketball schedules for Hauser and Columbus Christian: 

Hauser 

Tuesday;Brown County;7:30 p.m.

Dec. 2;Morristown;7:30 p.m.

Dec. 3;at Trinity Lutheran;7:30 p.m.

Dec. 9;at South Ripley;7:30 p.m.

Dec. 10;at Henryville;7:30 p.m.

Dec. 16;Edinburgh;7:30 p.m.

Dec. 17;Switzerland County;7:30 p.m.

Dec. 27-28;at Edinburgh Tournament;TBA

Jan. 6;North Decatur;7:30 p.m.

Jan. 7;at Southwestern (Hanover);7:30 p.m.

Jan. 12;Franklin County;7:30 p.m.

Jan. 20;at Waldron;7:30 p.m.

Jan. 21;Rising Sunl7:30 p.m.

Jan. 28;at Batesville;7:30 p.m.

Feb. 2;Southwestern (Shelby);7:30 p.m.

Feb. 10;Jac-Cen-Del;7:30 p.m.

Feb. 11;at Oldenburg Academy;7:30 p.m.

Feb. 17;at Milan;7:30 p.m.

Feb. 18;at South Decatur;7:30 p.m.

Feb. 21;Columbus Christian;7:30 p.m.

Feb. 23;at Greenwood Christian Academy;7:30 p.m.

Columbus Christian 

Friday;Covenant Christian;7:30 p.m.

Saturday;Seven Oaks;7 p.m.

Nov. 26;Brown County;7:30 p.m.

Nov. 30;at Mooresville Christian;7 p.m.

Dec. 3;Traders Point Christian;7:30 p.m.

Dec. 4;Community Christian;7:30 p.m.

Dec. 6;at Martinsville Tabernacle;7:15 p.m.

Dec. 10;at Medora;7:30 p.m.

Dec. 16;Pleasantview Christian;7:30 p.m.

Dec. 17;Heartland Christian;6 p.m.

Dec. 27-28;Columbus Christian Holiday Hoops;TBA

Jan. 4;Medora;7:30 p.m.

Jan. 6;at Bloomington Lighthouse;7:30 p.m.

Jan. 8;at Cannelton;4 p.m.

Jan. 13-14;SRC Tournamant at Medora;TBA

Jan. 20;Fishers Christian;6:45 p.m.

Jan. 21;at Christian Academy of Madison;7 p.m.

Jan. 24;Legacy Elite Academy;7 p.m.

Jan. 27;at Horizon Christian;7 p.m.

Jan. 28;Legacy Christian;7:30 p.m.

Feb. 3;Community Christian;7 p.m.

Feb. 4;at Crothersville;1:30 p.m.

Feb. 10;Horizon Christian;7:30 p.m.

Feb. 21;at Hauser;7:30 p.m.