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By TRACY WATSON
McMECHEN -- There is plenty to be excited about for long-time coach Tom Wise and his Bishop Donahue boys' basketball team.
The Bishops are coming off a 9-11 season but return four starters and will have a deep bench. Included in that mix will be one of the hidden treasures of Ohio Valley hoops, senior Taylor Straughn.
Not that people don't know who Straughn is, but the two-time all-state performer has had to play in the shadows of a couple of rivals the last three seasons, Wheeling Central's Chase Harler and Magnolia's Preston Boswell.
This season, Straughn, who scored 27.5 points a night as a junior, will have more of a spotlight on him and he is expected to shine brightly. Straughn has scored 1,127 points to date, just 434 short of the school record held by Mark Gordon.
"Taylor is a big point guard and just a tremendous basketball player," Wise said. "He is a two-time all-stater that brings so much to the team and is just one of the reasons we are expecting big things this season."
Senior Koltin Kleeh is a three-year starter that scored 14.7 points and pulled down 7.2 rebounds. The 6-foot-2 Kleeh will be another key member of this team, however, he is still recovering from a football injury and cannot have any contact until December.
Trey Miller is a 5-10 senior that is all over the floor, racking up 5.6 points, three assists and three rebounds a night as a junior. The two players that were the biggest off the bench last year will play an even larger role this season in 6-4 junior Clinton Whitlatch and 6-3 sophomore Anthony Robbins.
Another kid that is slated for plenty of minutes but has not been fully cleared due to a football injury, is senior Jimmy Hull. Senior Junior Holmes returns to the team after taking last year off and Wise expects big things from the 6-4 post.
"We are battling some injuries early on, but these are kids that have been playing for me for years so they know what they are doing and what is expected," Wise said. "Adding to the bench depth will be senior Jacob Beyser (5-10) and juniors Logan Ruckh (5-10), Doug Clark (5-10) and B.J. Stewart (6-1), who is another player beginning the season with an injury.
"This is a team that has four returning starters and the top three or four kids off the bench from last year. There are very high expectations here this year. We have been pretty good, but we have also been in a pretty brutal section with Magnolia, Wheeling Central and Weirton Madonna also.
"Along with those four starters we added Junior Holmes back to the roster and we have had some key junior varsity players that have really progressed as well. I honestly believe we are going to have a team that is going to go 10 or 11 players deep that can all play and help out when they are on the court.
"We have some size and some overall big kids. Kleeh is a big kid. It can be a big thing when you combine size, depth and experience and we have it all.
"But at the same time we are still a small school with limited numbers and so much depends on staying healthy. We need to keep our injured kids back to good health and we need to stay there."
The schedule is tough, as it normally is, with a season opener against Steubenville Catholic and a quick trip downstate to battle a loaded Valley Fayette team and Charleston Catholic on back-to-back days.
Wise also has plenty of experience and knowledge on the bench with him in Assistant Coaches Curt Mele and James "Doobie" Dailer.