Next Step? State Tourney
SULLY — Lynnville-Sully’s boys basketball team ended its season last year one game short of its wanted destination — the state tournament.
After finishing 19-5 last year, third in the South Iowa Cedar League and losing in a substate final to Burlington Notre Dame, the Hawks are looking to take the next step this season when the season starts Dec. 1 at Tri-County.
“I’m optimistic about the season,” Lynnville-Sully coach Nick Harthoorn said. “I think we have the opportunity to achieve a lot. We’ll have to have some guys step up. We lost four very important seniors, so those guys are going to have to step up into those roles.”
Nick Beyer was a first team all-conference selection with 12 points per game last season, and he led the team in 3-pointers. Dallas Bryan and T.J. Cullen were second team all-conference selections, with Bryan averaging just under 10 points and leading the team in assists and steals.
Cullen averaged 10.3 points per game, while the fourth senior lost was Danny Zegers. But heading into the season, Harthoorn feels he has ample players who can step into those roles.
“We feel like we have eight or nine guys ready to go, and we’re just waiting to see where the chips fall,” Harthoorn said. “We’re seeing who is going to step up and claim those spots.”
The Hawks return two starters from last season — senior Zach Stafford and junior Logan Vos. Stafford averaged nine points per game, while Vos averaged 8.6 points per game. Senior Corey Gifford led the team in blocks last season.
Gifford, at 6-foot-6, is where Harthoorn sees the strength in his team.
“We do have a lot of size this year, which seems unusual,” Harthoorn said. “With that size, we’re not all fleet of foot — quickness will be an issue. We’ll try to push the ball whenever possible, but we’ll also look at pounding the ball inside a little more this season.”
Besides those three, the Hawks return five more letterwinners — Andrew Van Wyk, Shawn Jansen, Chase Cullen, Jacob Van Manen and Taylor Van De Krol.
Looking ahead to the South Iowa Cedar League race, Harthoorn looks for a lot of the same. Keota won the conference last season, HLV was second and the Hawks were third.
“In our conference, Keota is going to be right at the top,” Harthoorn said. “They had a very solid team last year, along with BGM. They’ll have a good group, and HLV has had a great run. They lost a fair amount of guys.
“I feel like we have the opportunity this year to battle at the top with those teams. I could see is really falling anywhere depending on how we come together as a team. We’ll have to wait and see how the guys are going to fit in together.”
It’s the same for the Hawks when it comes to the district and substate pairings — a lot of the same teams from last year.
“It looks a lot like last year,” Harthoorn said. “It’s a tough district again this year. We’ll have our work cut out for us at this point. There are a lot of solid teams in our pairing.”
In the end, Harthoorn knows the success of this year will come down to one factor — defense.
“I’ll be interested in seeing how we play defensively,” Harthoorn said. “How successful we can be this season will be based on defense.”
