Devils hope to pull senior-ity

The Chaffee basketball team looks to improve on the eight-win season last year as it returns four starters -- all seniors.

"This senior class has a great group of kids," Red Devils coach Tyson Moyers said. "I've got nine seniors. Seven of them have played for me since they were freshmen, my first year. So they know me. They know what I want and what I expect."

Seniors Jerrod Steger, Adam Horton, Andy Hendrix and Gabe Seabaugh are all back and all offensive threats.

Steger, the shooting guard, occasionally scores from outside, but he's better at driving the ball to the basket. Horton is an opposite player, as he is the Red Devils' best outside shooter.

Hendrix will be expected to score in the paint and Seabaugh, a high-post player, has improved over the past year, Moyers said.

The team has nine seniors and four juniors.

"All four of those guys can put the ball in the hole," Moyers said. "We don't rely on just one person."

Horton, the Red Devils' point guard last season, might take on a new offensive role this winter as Taimen Taylor might take over that position.

"He [Horton] might not run as much point this year because we've got Taimen who might be able to do that, and that will give Adam a little more opportunity to shoot the ball," Moyers said. "It's hard to get a lot of shots off at the point position."

Only two of the varsity players on the Red Devils roster were not on the football team -- Seabaugh and Taylor.

"We started practice when football was still going on and I had two varsity players, Taimen and Gabe, and they worked their butts off in the weight room," Moyers said.

Chaffee has a number of other players vying for minutes, including Michael Spies, who will play the post, and Jerrod Steger's twin brother, Josh Steger, who shoots well from the outside. Trenton Horman, who led the junior varsity in scoring last year, will see some playing time.

Dylan McAlister also has been competing for playing time. Moyers calls him one of the team's best defender.

The Red Devils use a man-to-man defense and a 1-3-1.

Chaffee was involved in some summer camps, including a weekend camp at Missouri State and a shootout at the school with approximately 16 local teams. And McAlister was usually the player the Red Devils put on the opposing team's best offensive threat.

Moyers, who is in his fourth year at the school, is excited about the team.

"We want to improve on last year and we think that we can," he said.