Trending
By KIM NORTH
OLD WASHINGTON -- Gary Chumney is in his first season as coach of the Buckeye Trail boys' basketball team. But he is no stranger to the Warriors program after serving as an assistant to Darin Wilson last year. He also coached in the girls' program for 10 years.
The rookie head coach is already dealing with some adversity as two projected starters -- 5-foot-8 senior guard Justin Jones and 5-7 senior guard CJ McCall -- are sidelined indefinitely. Jones sustained a broken wrist in two places in a scrimmage and McCall was to undergo a medical procedure.
"Justin was probably our best outside shooter," the coach said. "We're not sure how long he will be out. Then I just found out that CJ was at his home and might have appendicitis. So we're going to be starting behind the 8-ball a little bit.
"We're not real big, but we are fast and quick. So well try and make use of those qualities," Chumney said. "The program has only won nine games the last two seasons combined, so we're obviously hoping to do better than that.
"We've got a pair of two-year lettermen back and three kids who lettered last season. That's a good start. We've got a good mix of four seniors, a junior and two sophomores. They will be our main guys right now."
The two-year starters are 6-4 senior center Jacob Doudna and 5-8 senior point guard Troy Pontius. Both earned several postseason honors last winter. Doudna averaged 13.2 points and 8.8 rebounds per game a season ago. Pontius scored at a 6.1 clip and pulled down 3.2 rebounds. He charted 48 assists and shot 71 percent from the free-throw line.
McCall, who only played in 11 games, posted a 11.1 scoring average, while also grabbing 54 rebounds, handing out 32 assists and charting 21 steals.
Jones saw action in 21 games, averaged 4.3 points and had 28 rebounds. He shot 80 percent from the foul line.
Junior Trey Dougherty is the other returner. The 5-6 guard played in 19 games, scoring 43 points, dishing out 26 assists and recording 25 steals.
Another starter will be 5-9 sophomore guard Zach Grafton, while classmates 6-0 guard Branden Barnett and 5-11 guard Dylan Beaver will see playing time, according to Chumney. Justin Paden is a 6-1 senior guard that is also in the mix, as are juniors Keyshawn Murphy (5-7 guard), Levi Douglas (5-11 forward) and Chandler Hixson (6-0 forward).
Nicole Stevens, who was head coach of the girls' team for four years, and Johnny Rome are the varsity assistant coaches. Gregg Strasser is the jayvee coach and T.S. McVicker the freshmen coach.