Perryville Boys Basketball Preview

Conference: Jefferson County Activities Association (Large Schools Division)

Coach: Justin Dreyer, 3rd year

District: Class 4 District 1

Schedule:

Date Day of Week Opponent Location Time

December 1-5, 2014 Monday-Friday Woodland Invitational Tournament Woodland TBA

December 9, 2014 Tuesday Valle Catholic Home 6 p.m.

December 12, 2014 Friday Fredericktown Home 6 p.m.

December 19, 2014 Friday Saxony Lutheran Away 6 p.m.

December 20, 2014 Saturday Festus (JCAA Conference Shootout) Jefferson College 6 p.m.

December 26-30, 2014 Friday-Tuesday 59th Annual Bob Sechrest, Jr. Christmas Tournament Park Hills Central TBA

January 6, 2015 Tuesday Dexter Home 6 p.m.

January 9, 2015 Friday DeSoto Away 6 p.m.

January 12-17, 2015 Monday-Saturday 50th Annual Chester Invitational Tournament Chester, Ill. TBA

January 27, 2015 Tuesday Cape Central Away 5 p.m.

January 30, 2015 Friday Scott City Away 6 p.m.

January 31, 2015 Saturday St. Vincent Perry Park Center 3:30 p.m.

February 3, 2015 Tuesday St. Pius X (Festus) Home 6 p.m.

February 6, 2015 Friday Festus Home 6 p.m.

February 13, 2015 Friday Windsor (Imperial) Away 6 p.m.

February 17, 2015 Tuesday Hillsboro Home 6 p.m.

February 20, 2015 Friday Park Hills Central Away 6 p.m.

February 24, 2015 Tuesday Farmington Away 6 p.m.

February 27, 2015 Friday Ste. Genevieve Away 6 p.m.

Roster:

No. Player Year Height

1 Jacob Robinson 11 6-4

3 Matthew Moran 12 6-0

5 McGwire Bartley 11 5-10

10 Conner Stark 11 6-2

11 Luke Schlichting 12 5-11

12 Garrett Johnson 11 5-11

14 Nathan Noland 11 6-2

15 Eric Lappe 12 6-0

21 Collin Stief 12 6-4

22 Eli Tripp 12 6-4

24 Wyatt Johnson 11 5-10

25 Ryan Noland 11 6-2

Returning starters: Eli Tripp, Luke Schlichting

Starters lost: Colin Schirmer, Grant Dix, Trenton Green

Last year's record: 13-13

Postseason result: Lost to Central 51-35 in a district quarterfinal

Last year's leaders:

Points: Colin Schirmer (18.5 ppg)

Rebounds: Colin Schirmer (11 rpg)

Assists: Grant Dix (3 apg)

Team outlook

The Perryville boys basketball team lost six seniors to graduation last year, but third-year coach Justin Dreyer is confident his five returning seniors and added depth will have what it takes to make the Pirates competitive.

Perryville lost three starters, including Colin Schirmer, the Pirates tallest player and leading scorer from a season ago. Dreyer isn't worried about the loss. Instead, he's focused on making sure his players know just how good they are.

"I think we have a lot of upside this season," Dreyer said. "We lost some really key players from last year's team, but we have guys who can fill those roles. The guys that will have to step up have been playing behind some of last year's starters and working really close with them in offseasons, so I think they know what it takes to make big plays."

Dreyer said the Pirates worked out this summer, but for much of the fall sports season the whole team had not been practicing together.

"Our soccer team just won the state championship, which was very exciting for the school, and even better for our team," Dreyer said. "We had Luke [Schlichting], Matt [Moran] and Collin [Stief] all missing some practice time for basketball, so it's been nice to have them back. They will play some key roles for us with the offense we run, plus they're in probably the best condition you can be for basketball because of all the soccer that they've been playing."

The offense will come, according to Dreyer, who is more worried about the Pirates defense. Perryville gave up around 60 points a game to its opponents. Dreyer said his first objective of the season will be getting the Pirates to play a more aggressive defense.

"We can't have those games where we let the other team get out to a big lead because we're not getting rebounds or contesting shots and then we don't have a chance to comeback," Dreyer said. "To win big games and win championships you've got to win on defense. That's been a big focus for us."

The Pirates haven't talked team goals just yet, but they do know that they would like to increase their win total significantly from last season.

"Going into that season I want to say we were thinking like 15 to 20 wins would be possible and we didn't do it," Dreyer said. "I think the guys I have coming back know that's a reachable goal this year. It may be and it may not be, I don't know. But we need to be more aggressive on offense and defense if we expect to have any kind of success."

District breakdown

The Pirates will attempt to navigate their way through Class 4 District 1. Dreyer knows that will be a tough call for his players, and calls it the best district in the state.

"i would put it up there with any other district out there," Dreyer said. "If you look at the teams from top to bottom it's competitive every year. I think we know that we're not the top team in there right now, but we think we can do some things right this year and get on the right track to put ourselves in position to do battle with the top teams in the district."

Looking back

Perryville went 13-13 last season and lost to Central in the first round of the district tournament.

"There were games where we just didn't rebound and couldn't shoot the ball to save our lives," Dreyer said. "I thought we started out pretty good and when we hit a wall we just couldn't recover. That can't happen this year, and I think we have the guys to make sure that it doesn't happen."

-- Ben Striker