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Raiders retooling after breaking drought

By Adam Brewer for The 3 min read

First-year coach Kirk King takes over the head coaching job for the Waynesburg Central boys’ basketball squad and will look to continue the program’s upward trend after qualifying for the postseason a year ago.

King was an assistant coach on last year’s team and has been involved in several coaching jobs at the youth and junior high levels.

The Raiders posted a 14-8 overall mark and garnered a 9-3 record in Section 4-AA. Waynesburg finished third in the section behind Charleroi and Brownsville.

Waynesburg broke a nine-year playoff drought with a preliminary round appearance against Laurel. The Raiders dropped the prelim contest 76-50.

The Raiders will need to replace five key seniors from a year ago, and will look do that with a roster of 19 boys, three of which are seniors.

As for the team’s identity, Kirk was frank with what he wants from his team.

“I want our identity this year and in the future to be a team that is fundamentally sound, mentally tough and gives extra effort on every play,” he stated. “We have to do that every night to be successful.”

As for offensive and defensive schemes, King will look to simplify some things for his relatively inexperienced squad.

“Replacing four, senior starters is going to be tough,” he said. “We are replacing almost all of our points, so some kids have to step up and be more productive on that end. Defensively, we will need to play every possession with intensity.”

The Raiders will lean on its three seniors, forward Garrett Cole (5-11), forward Ron Howard (6-4) and guard Rob Miller (5-6).

Waynesburg will also look for valuable minutes from its juniors, such as forward Nate Blair (6-1), forward Aaron Sielski (6-0) and guard Jack Xue (5-8).

The squad will also be anchored by junior center Mitch Warman, who used his 6-3, 250 pound frame to be a lethal force down in the paint a year ago.

“We need everyone to step up,” King expressed. “We need everyone to give maximum effort on every single play in every single game. We have good chemistry off the court and we need to translate that on the court.”

With Brownsville and Charleroi being tagged as the early season favorites in Section 4-AA, it seems like Waynesburg will be right in the playoff chase with the other four teams within the section for the final two postseason berths.

The Raiders will participate in the McGuffey Tipoff Tournament on Dec. 4-5 to jumpstart their 2015-16 season.

After a non-section road contest against West Greene on Dec. 8, Waynesburg will open up section action at home against Brownsville on Dec. 11.

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