Preview: Cougars, Knights, Lancers

SCOTT TRUXELL/independent sports

The 2024-2025 boys high school basketball season will tip off Friday night for Van Wert, Crestview and Lincolnview. Below are brief previews of each team.

Van Wert Cougars

New Van Wert head coach Jeremy Best certainly isn’t new to the game.

In 17 years as the head coach at Crestview, Best rolled to a record of 291-110, a pair of state championships (2014, 2019), a state runner-up trophy in 2003 and numerous accolades, including State Basketball Coaches Association Coach of the Year twice. Prior to Crestview, Best spent four years as head coach at his alma mater, Edon High School. He begins his stint at Van Wert with 314 career wins.

After spending the last three seasons as a girls varsity assistant basketball coach at Crestview, Best decided he was ready to return to a head coaching job. He’s stepping in for Ben Laudick, who resigned after five seasons and a record of 58-60. Laudick’s 2022-2023 team advanced to the Division II regional championship game.

“I’ve been out of the head coaching business for five years and only casually watched from a distance,” he said. “I am learning all over again about our opponents. I have a lot of work to do personally on updating myself on our opponents. Everything is really new and fresh for me and my staff as well as my players.”   

“I’ve been around long enough to know that you’d better be prepared, whether that be for our WBL opponents or our non-conference opponents,” he added.

Best takes over a team that went 4-19 (1-8 WBL) last season. That squad was senior laden, something this year’s team won’t be. In fact, when the season tips off on Friday, at least three of the five starters will be freshmen or sophomores.

“(We’re) youthful and inexperienced but have potential for a great deal of growth as we move forward,” Best explained. “All 23 players in our program are in ‘The Process’ and are learning to trust it and trust each other.  It is early and we have not had to deal with much adversity yet, so when that is tested we will see how we grow and respond.” 

“Our coaching staff has been pleased with our ‘process over an outcomes-based approach,’ he added. “It has allowed us to focus on one task at a time and caused us to work on getting good at doing simple things better. I’ve appreciated our willingness to learn and be coachable. It’s a whole new system and way of thinking for our guys. They are showing up every day eager to work and learn.”

When the season opens this Friday, guard Keaten Welch, who started as a freshman last season and led the team in scoring (12 points per game), will be one of the starters, along with sophomore guard Cohen Bragg, who saw spot duty as a freshman last season and freshman Zach Crummey. The other two starters will likely be a game time decision. Griff McCracken (5-8 junior guard) and Nate Gearhart (5-9 senior guard) are two returning letter winners from last season. Kaiven Welch (5-10 junior guard), Xavier Kelly (6-0 freshman guard), Caden Collins (5-10 sophomore guard), Andrew Terhark (5-10 sophomore guard), Micah Cowan (6-1 sophomore wing/post), Ayden Crawford-Gibbs (6-0 junior post), Geary Hilleary IV (6-0 junior post) and Trey Dotson (6-2 junior post) are also on the varsity roster.

“We have 8-9 guys who are competing for playing time,” Best explained.  “They are making our decisions as coaches very hard because they are all doing what have been asking. We’ve been working through some nagging injuries that have slowed some of our progress, but we will continue to work through these situations.”

As far as Friday’s season opener – it’s against Best’s former team, the Crestview Knights. While some may find that ironic or strange, it doesn’t seem to phase Best.

“The fact that our first opponent is Crestview isn’t weird to me because that’s just the way the schedule is,” he stated. “Rather than weird, it is a feeling of gratitude that I have another opportunity to do something that I love to do.  I have a great deal of gratitude for my 17 years at Crestview and for having another opportunity here at Van Wert to make a new set of relationships through basketball. It is very humbling for me to be a leader of a program again and we will work to make a positive impact on those who are connected to our program.”

Crestview Knights

Crestview alum Doug Etzler is back for his sixth season with the Knights and to say his team is young might be an understatement. Just two seniors are on the varsity roster.

“We had a very good summer and have had a good fall so far,” Etzler said.  I think our guys are feeling more comfortable playing with each other. Our younger guys are starting to understand the pace and physicality that is needed at the varsity level. I think we have gotten a little better with every scrimmage that we have had.” 

“We have some players that have good varsity game experience and we are counting on them to be our leaders and help our young guys out until they get their feet under them,” he noted.

Wren Sheets (6-6 senior post) is the top returnee for the Knights Last season (16-8, 6-2 NWC), Sheets hovered around the double-double mark and proved to be a formidable presence inside. Etzler noted that along with Sheets, several others are challenging for starting roles and playing time, including Tommy  Heffner (6-1 senior guard), Hayden Perrott (6-0 junior guard), Braxton Leeth (6-0 junior guard), Liam Putnam (6-3 junior forward), Will Sheets (6-4 sophomore forward/post) and Owen Heckler (6-3 junior guard).

“I think we have a group of hard workers that are willing to play unselfish basketball,” Etzler said. “Wren Sheets has a lot of varsity experience and has experienced quite a bit of success.  We are counting on him to be a great leader for us. We know he is going to draw a lot of attention when he catches the basketball, so we are working hard at getting our other guys to do a great job of playing off of Wren and being in position to hurt teams when they try to double Wren in the post.” 

“Although we do have some good varsity experience with Wren, Tommy, Hayden and Braxton, we are also counting on some of our young guys to step up and play big roles for us,” he added.

Mathew Dealey (6-0 junior guard), Huxley Grose (6-0 junior guard), and Jacob Schumm (6-0 junior guard) are also among those expected to contribute this season.

Etzler’s teams have stressed defense in the past and that certainly isn’t going to change this season.

“We are looking to be a solid half court man defensive team that is able to throw a few different zone looks at our opponents,” the coach said. “We would like to push the ball in transition and force our opponents to play good transition defense, but we want to make good decisions when pushing in transition and then be able to grind things out in the half-court offensively and get good ball movement and good inside/outside movement.”

As far as the NWC, it appears to be loaded and Etzler believes multiple teams can be considered conference title contenders.

“We think that we have a very challenging schedule,” Etzler said. “In league play we have several teams that we feel can be in the mix to challenge for a league title. Off the top of my head you have to look at defending NWC champs Spencerville. Bluffton returns a big portion of their varsity roster,  Lima Central Catholic is coming off of a state tournament run, and Allen East has several key varsity returners. I think the NWC will be very challenging this season.”

“Our non-league games are also very challenging as we play tradition-rich teams that have great coaches,” Etzler noted. “Right off the bat we have to travel to Van Wert and Miller City. The following weekend we have Shawnee, who is coming off a regional run. We are at Parkway, Delphos St. John’s, Coldwater and Fort Recovery, all very good MAC teams, then our traditional great match ups with Ottoville, Kalida and Wayne Trace. We will have to bring our ‘A’ game every night or we will be in for a long season.” 

Lincolnview Lancers

Things could be looking up for the Lincolnview Lancers in 2024-2025.

Coming off a 6-18 (1-7 NWC), head coach Brett Hammons (13^th season) and the Lancers have varsity experience returning to the court.

“We have five returning guys who all started for us at one point last year in Max Hammons (5-9 sophomore guard), Chayse Overholt (5-11 junior guard), Kreston Tow (5-8 senior guard), Holden Price (5-4 junior guard) and Bennett Kill (6-4 senior forward),” Hammons said. “These are the leaders of our team and the guys who have the experience at this level. We have guys pushing them though in Gavin Evans (6-0 junior forward), Kody Hamilton (6-3 junior forward), and Zander Coil (5-10 sophomore guard). They continue to get better through the practices and scrimmages also.”

Tow averaged 6.6 points per game last season, followed by Kill (6.2), Hammons (5.4), Overholt (5.3), and Price (4.1).

Other players on the Lancer roster include Jackson Ingledue (5-7 junior guard), Grant Zielke (6-0 junior forward), Seth Brant (5-11 sophomore forward), and Lucas Grubb (6-0 junior forward).

“This is a great group to be around,” Hammons said of his team. “They come ready to go every practice, with great energy ready to get better. As a coach this is what you love to see. They might not be the biggest team out there, but they are going to fight every possession for their teammates.”

“Our kids have put in a lot of work in the off-season,” he added. “We had meetings with them and they all have goals on how they want this year to go. I think how we competed this summer shows that.”

Lincolnview’s style will remain the same – the Lancers like to push the tempo offensively and defensively, which is a depature from a number of other area teams.

“We are looking to pick up full court again this year and on makes or misses we are looking to push the ball,” Hammons said. “I think we have a little more size this year, but I want to play a style that will give us a better chance of winning.”

Challenging would be an accurate way to describe Lincolnview’s 2024-2025 schedule. The non-conference schedule includes teams such as Wayne Trace (season opener on Friday), Upper Scioto Valley, Ottoville, Kalida, Fort Recovery, Van Wert, Miller City, Antwerp, Parkway, Delphos St. John’s and Arlington, plus the Northwest Conference slate that features a number of top teams, including Spencerville, Bluffton, Lima Central Catholic, Crestview and Columbus Grove.

“I feel we have one of the hardest schedules in the area,” Hammons stated. “It feels like every year we have a challenge every night. There are a lot of good teams in the NWC and our non-conference isn’t going to be easy either. We have to be ready to get after it every night we put on the uniforms.”