By Ken Barhorst
Sidney head boys basketball coach Andy Slaughter will unveil this year’s edition of the Yellow Jackets Friday night when they play at West Carrollton to open the season. And he hopes there aren’t as many ups and downs in that game as there were in preseason.
“A lot of ups and downs,” he said. “I felt at times we were really, really good, but there were times when we had lapses and were really bad. But today (Monday) was probably the best we’ve looked in practice all preseason.”
The Jackets have a good core group of players returning from last season, when Sidney won nine games, but there is also an influx of young players with a lot of promise. And it’s Slaughter’s job to bring them all together.
“A good returning group but also a lot of newcomers,” Slaughter said, “And we’re trying to mesh everybody together and make it a cohesive unit. You can’t come in and just start playing well together.”
The returning list is led by guard Cameron Gallimore, who averaged 16.5 points per game last season, not to mention shooting 84 percent from the free throw line.
Along with him are veteran players like Darryl McNeal, Allec Gordon and Devon Rogers, the latter two being the team’s top rebounders a year ago.
Then you have players like freshman Andre Gordon, who is expected to be a key player for the Jackets, 6-4 senior Lorenzo Taborn, who is back after a year away, and sophomore Isaiah Bowser, who saw limited action last year because of an injury.
“We feel we have eight guys that can start or be in there at the finish,” the coach said. “If you don’t start, that doesn’t mean you’re not going to play a lot of minutes. We started a different group every scrimmage and about every quarter in preseason. So as far as who will start in the opener, realistically it will be the guys who practice best the next few days, and the group that we think will give us the best chance to beat West Carrollton.”
Slaughter is trying to get across to his players the importance of defense.
“I’ve said that record-wise, we’ll be as good as we are defensively,” he said. “If we play to 50 percent of our defensive capabilities, we’ll win 50 percent of our games. So for us to be a good team, we have to buy into the defensive end. And if we can block out and rebound, it will allow us to do the things we want to do offensively.”
Slaughter said the Jackets will be challenged Friday night on the road against the Pirates, who were 5-18 last season. When they met the Jackets, Sidney won at home 72-66.
“They’re going to be athletic, quick and get up and down the floor,” Slaughter said. “They will press a little and use the run-and-jump in the half court. They lost their best player to graduation so personnel-wise they will be different.
“We’re focusing more on ourselves right now,” he added. “If we come out and execute at both ends, we should be fine. So we’re not worried much about what they do.”
The Jackets come right back on Tuesday and play their first home game. Neighboring rival Bellefontaine will provide the opposition, and if last season is any indication of how the game will go, fans will be in for a treat. Sidney won 44-43 on Gallimore’s buzzer-beater.
Around the county
Thanks to prolonged football seasons, Lehman and new head coach Tim Gleason will have to wait an extra week to open the season.
The Cavaliers had a double weekend scheduled starting this Friday, but games with Minster and Miami East were both postponed. Minster’s football season just ended last week.
The game at Minster has been rescheduled for Dec. 21, and the game with Miami East at home will be played on Jan. 2.
The Cavaliers won’t open the season now until Dec. 4, and it will be a conference game, at home against Hardin Northern.
Meanwhile, the County boys fire up the season in a big way Friday, with three conference games.
The only team not opening Friday is Houston, with the Wildcats taking the floor Saturday night at Newton to start the campaign.
On Friday, Botkins makes the short trip south to Anna, Fairlawn is at Russia and Jackson Center visits Fort Loramie.
Saturday night is also busy. In addition to the Houston game, Fairlawn travels to Triad, Botkins stays at home to face Parkway, Russia is at St. Henry and New Knoxville invades Fort Loramie.
