Maples focusing on player development
Injuries and graduation put Mapletown in a tough situation before Dr. Kristafer Adkins could hold his first practice.
The Maples’ leading scorer, Lucas Stevenson, who had 219 points last season, had graduated, along with Tyler Howard, who put in 121 points.
In addition to losing two seniors, Cooper Franks, Colton McKnight and Carson Vanata were injured during the fall, and Franks is the lone player of the trio who will be working to return to the court once he is medically cleared. All three were penciled in to start for Adkins, who is in his first season as a high school head coach.
Mapletown’s Tyler Scott is recovering from a broken hand, but Adkins believes he will return in the next few weeks. Franks and Scott played varsity minutes last year, and will be inserted into the lineup when they receive a clean bill of health.
Franks played nearly every minute of the season last year as a sophomore.
The Maples’ starting lineup consists of senior Coltin Halbert, who will play at forward; junior Ashton Walker at center, sophomores Kaleb Evosevich (forward) and Matthew Howard (guard), and freshman Colton Taylor (guard).
Evosevich saw playing time in a third of Mapletown’s season last year as a freshman. The remainder of the current starting five did not participate in varsity basketball last season.
“We are a young team, both literally and figuratively,” Adkins said. “Most of our roster is composed of players who are underclassmen.”
Adkins will be assisted by Max Vanata, Cohen Stout and Kay Shisler, who are all Mapletown graduates.
“With a new coaching staff in place, we are focusing on a multi-year approach to rebuilding Mapletown’s boys basketball program,” Adkins said. “This approach will focus not only on developing the student-athletes at Mapletown Junior/Senior High School, but also on developing those who participate in the Bobtown Youth Basketball League.”
The Maples will voluntarily play-up in classification and compete in Section 3-2A against Beth-Center, Burgettstown, Carmichaels, Chartiers-Houston, Fort Cherry, Jefferson-Morgan and West Greene.
Mapletown decided to play in Class 2A last year, despite being one of the smallest schools in the state, to avoid long road trips and keep its traditional rivalries alive.
Adkins is not throwing in the towel, but with a brand-new team, the final record will not factor into year-end evaluation.
“The focus for this season is on the development of the fundamental skills that all basketball players must possess,” Adkins said. “We will not be determining how successful this season is by our final win-loss total. Instead, we will determine our season’s success on how we develop as individual players and as a team.”