CL Hawks Basketball have Good Scrimmage
Senior Brandon Ward will be looking for a break out year for the Hawks
Canyon Lake has not had a lot of success throughout the years for basketball yet there is a decent chance that this year’s team might have what it takes to finish strong.
The Hawks will have more depth this year as many of the younger players last season played significant roles and with another year of playing could put this team in the spotlight.
Brandon Ward, Justin Ferris, Rory Preiss, Will Gray, Tyler Williams are some of those players that ended last season as solid players.
Looking at Preiss’ last game of stats in his game with Yoakum, and you see what could be in store this season.
Actually Preiss had a great half that many players would like to average for a half. Preiss ended the first half of that Yoakum game with 15 points and 10 rebounds which translates to a double-double.
Ward will also bring his sharp eye from beyond the 3-point line which should help in opening up the Hawk’s inside game.
“I think our season will be good,” Ward submitted. “We can shoot and have a pretty good ‘D’.”
There were more players this past offseason playing competitive throughout the year which which has not happened in previous years.
“It (playing in summer leagues) is good because it has given us good chemistry,” Ward said in response to playing together during the offseason. “It also helps improve our abilities and gives us a good bond.”
Tyler Williams moved up to the varsity during the midseason and this tall young man finished the season with 26 blocks behind the all-time block leader Sean Nolan.
Will Gray is looking for a good season as the Hawks prepare for the start of this season
Losing Nolan and Skyler Tschoepe for inside strength and rebounds will be replaced with Williams and Preiss who had 139 rebounds last season finishing second to Nolan.
Preiss also led the team with 32 steals and when football season finishes, Canyon Lake will be adding Robert Woods, Haden Lee, and Heath McDonough.
Those three players should add enough reinforcements for what could be the Hawks best post players in a while.
Ferris and Gray also will be bring a skill set on the perimeter that can translate into giving CL an advantage in dishing out assists and some easy shots.
Gray had the best 3 point percentage last year and Ferris had a good year handling the ball with a very respectable 1.3 per game turnover rate.
“We got better today,” Gray said in talking about the two teams in the scrimmage. “In playing off season was something we needed to do to get to our goals this season.”
On what is expected, Gray commented, “We want to reach our personal excellence and win….if we can get to our full potential then we can beat anybody.”
Ferris was also poignant, “I feel we can have a really good start and that will help in giving us confidence going into the season.”
Justin Ferris is looking forward to the start of basketball
“My shot has gotten better and it has been worked on and I can use it to our advantage and that will be good for us,” Ferris finished.
Last year’s JV also played well and along with McDonough, CL, will be getting help from Charlie McIntosh, Sam Langford, Gerrit Wilkins, Jacob Rameriz, and Bennie Brownlee.
Granted the team might not need all of those JV players but you get the idea of the depth this will give the Hawks.
“This is probably the most depth we have had at Canyon Lake in a long time,” Head Coach Luke Chapman surmised.
In the Hawks scrimmage on Tuesday night, CL beat Boerne and Llano in their round robin games and a good start to this season would help in giving some confidence to a squad that has not been raking in wins from past years.
This year has a chance of being different and if all the stars can align in the right order, then Canyon Lake’s basketball team could whittle down another team sport to make the playoffs.
Now that would be fun!!
Go Hawks!!
