Boys Set To Return Four As New Season Tips Off
Sullivan’s boys basketball team will tip off the 2018-2019 season Friday when they host the Cuba Wildcats at 7 p.m.
The Eagles will return four starters from a squad that went 14-13 a season ago and head coach Dino McKinney says the team will again rely on its shooting to overcome its size.
“It will be similar to last year,” said McKinney, who begins his eighth season at Sullivan. “Size-wise, it will be our biggest issue. But we’ll be a good shooting team.”
Senior Cody McKinney led the Eagles in nearly everything last season. McKinney averaged 17 points, six rebounds, four assists and two steals per game. He shot 52 percent from the floor, 47 percent on 3-point attempts and 91 percent from the floor. McKinney can facilitate the offense or score from anywhere on the floor.
Seniors Jacob Rohrer, Austin Lewis and Landon Hoffman are the team’s other three starters. Lewis was third on the team in scoring last season at 7 points per game, while Hoffman averaged 6 points per game and was third on the team in 3-pointers.
McKinney said the team will miss the contributions of Caleb Todd, who was second on the team in scoring last season and provided perimeter scoring, but said Hoffman had a good offseason and can pick up the slack.
The Eagles also return seniors Cameron Cunningham and Austin Frye. Juniors Josh Wiese, Austin Orick, Colton Ward, Jacob Hatcher and Dallas Blankenship round out the roster. Wiese and Hatcher appeared in 24 games last season.
Sullivan gave up 52 points per game last season and McKinney said the biggest key to success will be the team’s ability to guard the post and rebound.
The Eagles have proven over the past couple of seasons that they can contain bigger post players. In last season’s district opener, they held Parkway West’s 6-8 forward Michael Akinwumi to 18 points on 11 shots. Akinwumi shot 8-11 from the floor, but the rest of his teammates were 8-31 and didn’t attempt a single free throw.
Last December, Sullivan let an overtime game get away from them against Washington, but they didn’t let 6-7 Cason Suggs dominate. Suggs scored just two points and committed five fouls.
McKinney credits the Eagles success in those games to throwing various defenses out and using smaller defenders to pester bigger ones.
“Sometimes those bigger guys don’t like little guys up in their chests,” McKinney said.
A combination of Sullivan’s shooting, experience and leadership on the court and bench has earned the respect of Four Rivers Conference coaches, who placed the Eagles at the top of the preseason rankings. McKinney acknowledged that it’s high praise considering how tough the FRC will be.
On the top four teams in the preseason poll, McKinney talked about how difficult they will be.
“Union is very good, Pacific got the 2 seed at the Borgia Tournament and Hermann has everybody back,” he said. “Even going to a place like New Haven isn’t easy.”
Sullivan didn’t have it easy in terms of schedule last year and McKinney said it’s going to be a challenge again. Though the Eagles dropped out of a tournament in Springfield, they picked up the Washington Tournament and made the FCNB Bank It more competitive.
Following the season opener against Cuba, Sullivan will host that tournament beginning Monday, November 26. They follow with a road contest at Duchesne on December 4, then host Parkway South on December 7.