Bowers, Rhodes add bulk in the post for Bobcats

Delta heads into the season having lost some of its key starters from last year, but Bobcats coach Shawn Kinder thinks some newcomers, along with some role players from last year, will pick up the team.

"I think we'll be able to compete," Kinder said. "Hopefully by the end of the year we can make some noise in the district -- win our first-round game or something in the districts."

Kinder returns guard Tyler Martin to a lineup that lacks some experience. Martin will set up the offense as the point guard. He is also a strong scorer.

"He's a pretty good shooter and shoots the ball well from the 3-point line," Kinder said. "He can penetrate and he can get in the lane as well.

"He works hard each day in practice and he's a leader for this group. We expect him to lead the way this year as a senior."

Delta's Alex Parks is one of the returners for the Bobcats from last season's squad. (Aaron Eisenhauer)

Delta will add a big-bodied player in 6-foot-5 junior Gage Bowers, who did not play last year. Kinder hopes Bowers, along with Chase Rhodes, will be able to give the team some size near the basket.

"I expect Chase to come in and help us on the boards and give us a little inside presence along with helping to score on the offensive end of the floor," Kinder said. "I think [Bowers] will come in and give us that other inside presence we need down low as well as a scoring asset in the post. He'll fill in that five spot. We'll move Chase around a little bit because he can penetrate decent and score in the various ways. We might use him in the post as well as on the perimeter some."

Alex Parks, a senior guard, will also likely play an important role.

"He's been off the bench the last years," Kinder said. "He's played and he's a senior this year and he's been with the program all four years. So he's familiar with it and we expect him to possibly fill that fifth spot this year, get some starting time and help us."

After Bowers and Rhodes, the size drops off some. But Kinder said he has quite a few sophomores this year who will make the team quicker and allow him to return to the man-to-man defense he likes to run. Some sophomores he likes include Shelby Kight, Teddy May, Casey Rhodes and Cody Naramore.

"We're not a very big team, but we can get some things done defensively picking the tempo up a little bit and maybe give us a chance to score some points off the defensive end," Kinder said. "We will try to pressure the basketball and get in the passing lanes and cause a few turnovers. The last few years we haven't been able to do that because we've been low on numbers. So we had to change things up."