EAGLES OUT TO PROVE SWOON IS OVER

Oran boys basketball coach Mitch Wood suffered through his first losing season in nine years last year.

He isn't expecting that to happen again this season.

Wood will rely heavily on six juniors that made up a 20-3 JV unit as sophomores last year and two returning seniors to lead the Eagles back to their winning ways.

"Last year was a down year for us," said Wood. "At the end of the season we started three or four sophomores and hopefully that will pay off this year."

Senior Justin McAlister returns as the starting point guard. He'll likely share time at the position with classmate Justin Wierman, who came off the bench last year as the primary sixth man.

After sitting out last season, Ethan Evans (5-9) returns for his senior season. Wood described Evans as "a real smart post player that does well around the basket."

Those three seniors will play important roles, but the strength of the Eagles will come from their junior class. Three off those juniors will fill up the paint standing at least 6-foot-4.

Billy Loper (6-4), Jarod Hamm (6-4), and Ricky Eftink (6-5) will all be battling for starting post positions.

"All three are good post players," said Wood. "It will be nice to have their size out on the court because 50 percent of the teams we play won't be able to match our size."

Junior shooting guard Dustin Dannenmueller (6-0) returns as the second-leading scorer from last year with about 13 points per game. Last year, Dannenmueller jumped into the starting lineup after Christmas and sparked the offense at shooting guard.

Two other juniors Chris Nichols (5-10) and Daniel Wheeler (5-11) will also provide depth at the guard positions.

"All of the juniors came up and played the last eight games of varsity as sophomores last year," Woods said. "We ended up winning six out of our last eight games."

The Eagles season ended with a district loss to Delta.

"We haven't really got a real go-to player," said Wood. "We're just really well-balanced. We've got good shooters, good quickness and good height."

As far as that losing season last year, Wood doesn't figure to have to go through something like that again for some time.

"We definitely have high expectations," Wood said. "We're a fun bunch to watch and we're going to go out and try to win every game we play. This group is very focused and we should be exciting."

Oran opens the season with its own tournament next week.