By Maddy Hester, Reporter

With star center David Dudzinski in college now, several players on the varsity boy’s basketball team have had to step up their own games.

The team, which is younger than last year’s, has many key players, according to Coach Brian Johnson, including junior Trevor Heinle and seniors Chaon Denlinger, Tyler Callaghan and Matt Spittzerri.

Senior Zach Ringhouse said each brings something different to the team: Denlinger is a good shooter, Heinle is tough on defense, Callaghan brings toughness and Spittzerri is a good rebounder.

“We are more of a team this year than last,” Ringhouse said. “We have more scorers this year.”

Johnson said the Knights have been working on spreading the ball more because they cannot rely on one player anymore. They have also been changing up their defense.

“We have been working hard on man-to-man defense and keeping our opponents score under 45 points,” Johnson said.

The team is very strong defensively. “Our strength is defense, because we are very quick and we are very unselfish and we all play well together,” freshman Drew David said.

The team is 8-4 for the season as of press dead, with an upcoming game at Ottawa. Ringhouse anticipates matchups against Rochelle, DeKalb and Yorkville will be the season’s toughest.

“These were the three toughest teams last year, and they are returning from our old conference,” Ringhouse said.

“The team will need to work on keeping their intensity up and staying mentally tough for the whole game,” Heinle said.

In practices, the team has been working on a new strategy which Johnson calls the 1-3-1 zone, which has been implemented this year. A 1-3-1 is where there’s one guy at the top, three across and one at the bottom.

“We are having a lot more success this season,” senior Andrew O’Herren said. “It’s a lot of fun.”