Dec 4, 2015 By Adam Brewer for The 3 min read

After earning more wins than the previous season for the third year in a row, the West Greene boys’ basketball squad will look to make one more leap forward with a postseason appearance that will snap its two-plus decade long playoff drought in 2015-16.

Despite having no seniors on this year’s squad, the Pioneers are poised for another solid season thanks to a roster of 15 kids and a plethora of experience at the varsity level.

“We are upbeat in practice and the vibe has definitely changed from the last couple of seasons,” Fifth-year coach Jim Romanus said. “We have put in a lot of work over the off-season with summer ball and our preseason practices. I feel like we have a strong nucleus and the team is jelling at the right time.”

West Greene lost five seniors (three starters) from last year’s team that was 8-14 overall and 5-7 in Section 3-A. The Pioneers finished fifth in behind Monessen, California, Jefferson-Morgan and Geibel Catholic.

The Pioneers were 4-8 in games that were decided by 10 points or less.

According to Romanus, winning those close contests and closing teams out in ’15-16 are going to key for West Greene.

“We were in quite a few close games and it tested our mettle,” he stated. “If we could have closed a couple of teams out or made our foul shots or got a defensive stop in the final minute, we have could have been 14-8 instead of 8-14 last year. We have learned from those games and we are looking to finish games and win the fourth quarter.”

As for Section 3-A this season, Romanus looks for the usual suspects to be on top and is hoping his squad is able to get into the playoff hunt.

“Monessen is the defending Class A champs and returns a lot of talent,” he said. “Cal is right behind them I think and then after that it’s going to be up for grabs. We have to build off of our successes and learn from our losses. We need to be more consistent and build around our big players, while also having our role players step up.”

Leading the charge for the Pioneers this season will be junior forwards Craig Weaver (6-8) and Kolton Rush (6-5).

“Both are going to be key for us,” Romanus explained. “But they just have to do their jobs, they can’t get out of their comfort zones and try to do everything for the team. Both have worked on their games and are more diverse players. Craig has worked on his perimeter shooting, while Kolton has become a more dynamic scorer with some more post moves.”

West Greene will look at junior guards Zach McHenry (5-10) and Eric Stoll (5-9) for production, while also getting valuable minutes from junior guard Isaac Rizor (5-11) and freshman guard Nathan Brudnock (5-10).

The Pioneers will open their ’15-16 campaign at home against Bentworth on Dec. 4 and Waynesburg Central on Dec. 8.

West Greene will start their Section 3-A schedule against Geibel on Dec. 11.