Boys Basketball Preview 2022

Wheeling Park Returns Good Nucleus Of Talented Players

WHEELING — The way Michael Jebbia sees it, there are upwards of seven or so teams that have a legitimate chance to win or make a good run at the West Virginia Class AAA state championship. Fortunately, Jebbia believes his Wheeling Park Patriots are among that group, but as he begins his 17th season at the helm of his alma mater, he also knows there’s a long way to go until March rolls around. “Our kids have the talent and experience to be in the mix,” Jebbia said. “It took us a while last season to hit our stride because we had so many guys getting their first real varsity ...

Wheeling Central Finds Itself In Rare Rebuilding Season Under Stephens

WHEELING – It’s not very often that the Wheeling Central boys basketball team finds itself in a rebuilding mode. The youthful Maroon Knights will be in 2022-23. Faced with the loss of four standouts who picked up their diplomas last May, coupled with another four who decided to not return to the program, veteran head coach Mel Stephens and his coaching staff only return one player who saw significant playing time. “This is the youngest and least experienced team I’ve ever had here,” Stephens pointed out. “We always seem to have a good nucleus of players return every year, ...

John Marshall Seniors Looking Forward To One Last Go Round

MOUNDSVILLE — There will be a lot of familiar faces taking the court this year for the John Marshall boys’ basketball team. In fact, four returning starters are back for one more go around for coach Chad Clutter’s Monarchs. John Marshall only lost one senior to graduation, however, Clutter and his squad will still need to work hard to fill the shoes of that one player. “Grant Neiswonger had a great football, basketball and baseball season for us last year,” Clutter said. “There was a big difference from his junior year to his senior year. He was a solid, hard to move ...

Linsly To Challenge Itself With Schedule

WHEELING — Linsly’s boys basketball team is going to challenge itself quite frequently this winter. Cadets head coach Dave Wojcik, who is set to embark on his fourth season at the helm, believes his program has gotten to the point where it’s ready for the type of schedule and grind it’s about to embark on this winter. “We are definitely challenging ourselves,” Wojcik said. “We have only one home game in our first 12 and we play a lot of quality opponents, but I think we’re at the point where we’re ready for the challenge.” The Cadets are coming off a memorable ...

Cameron Returns Three Players From Class A State Qualifier

CAMERON – While Cameron lost four prominent seniors from last year’s West Virginia Class A state qualifier, coach Tom Hart will have three veteran players, four seniors and a lot of youth to help keep the Dragons breathing fire in 2022. Gone from last year’s squad are two-time first-team All-stater, 6 ft. 8 in. Trevor Beresford, now playing at Wheeling University, Chris McCauley, Nathan Haeberle and Connor Powell. “After graduating four seniors from last year’s team we will be a pretty youthful group hitting the hardwood at Dragon Indoor Stadium this year,” Hart said. ...

Brooke Must Replace A Pair Of Standouts In Shinky’s 2nd Season

WELLSBURG—The last time the Brooke boys’ basketball team finished better than .500 was the 2014 season. That is, until, last season. In Year 2 of Adam Shinsky taking over the program, the Bruins flourished, finishing 14-9 before falling to eventual state champion Morgantown in the sectional tournament. If the Bruins want to continue that upward trend, then they will need to do so replacing a host of talent lost to graduation, including two first-team OVAC performers in Alex Isinghood and Cole Sperlazza. The good news is the Bruins have a talented, and successful, incoming ...