For the first time in years, the race for the area boys basketball championship runs through Cumberland.
Allegany, which finished 16-5 and third in the area in 2021-22, graduated just one senior (Darian Bauer) and lost another starter to transfer, returning a pair of double-digit scorers in Caiden Chorpenning and Chazz Imes.
Fort Hill returns its leading scorer in Anthony Burns and brings in a pair of key transfers, Mikey Allen (Bishop Walsh) and Owen Seifarth (Allegany), to go along with a deep rotation that rivals the Campers as the area’s best.
Defending area champion Southern lost nearly all of its production, including Area Player of the Year Isaac Upole and All-Area first-teamer Gabe Hebb. Mountain Ridge lost All-Area guards Nate Washington and Amare Kennedy to graduation but should be competitive with Peyton Miller and Uma Pua’auli back for their senior seasons.
In West Virginia, Hampshire, Keyser, Frankfort, East Hardy and Petersburg are all expected to take a step forward this year, with the Trojans positioned as the most-likely to make a trip to Charleston, West Virginia, with 6-foot-7 forward Easton Shanholtz and sharpshooter Jenson Fields back for the 2022-23 campaign.
Allegany
Head coach: Tedd Eirich
Last year’s record: 16-5
Key losses: Darian Bauer, Owen Seifarth (Fort Hill transfer)
Key returners: Caiden Chorpenning (12.6 points, 6.8 rebounds), Chazz Imes (11.8 points, 83% free throws)
Coach’s quote: “I believe it’s going to be a unique year in comparison with the previous 19. We have a different type of team this year which is making us try some things that we haven’t before. Our expectations have never changed over the years. Our players understand that and they have been working hard to achieve our goals.”
Calvary
Head coach: Steve Robinette
Last year’s record: 3-17
Key losses: Braden Rhodes
Key returners: Noah Robinette (10.7 points, 3.7 assists), Levi Carrington (10.6 points, 7.8 rebounds), Ethan Livengood (8.1 points, 7.6 rebounds)
East Hardy
Head coach: Chris Hahn
Last year’s record: 10-15
Key losses: Justin Teets, Noah Lang
Key returners: Dawson Price (14.7 points, 7.7 rebounds), JW Teets (11.4 points, 3.1 steals), Ashton Haslacker (Hampshire transfer; 8.1 points)
Coach’s quote: “This team has really good chemistry right now and plays very physical. If we can maintain the trajectory and momentum, I expect us to have one of the best seasons in East Hardy boys basketball’s recent memory.”
Fort Hill
Head coach: Thad Burner
Last year’s record: 7-15
Key losses: Bryce Schadt, Logan Mullery
Key returners: Anthony Burns (15.9 points, 52 3s), Mikey Allen (Bishop Walsh transfer), Owen Seifarth (Allegany transfer; 9.8 points, 8.3 rebounds), Tavin Willis (6.6 points)
Coach’s quote: “We’re looking to compete every day in practice. Trying to gel and adapt to each other’s strengths in a short period of time is difficult, but hopefully we can get off to a good start at the beginning of our season.”
Frankfort
Head coach: Scott Slider
Last year’s record: 4-18
Key losses: Bryson Lane, Peyton Slider, Luke Robinette
Key returners: Cam Layton (11.0 points, 36 3s), Tyson Spencer (8.6 points, 4.7 rebounds), Cam Lynch (7.5 points, 4.5 rebounds)
Coach’s quote: “Our expectations for the season are high based on the success that our fall sports teams have had over the past few months. … We feel like we are a little behind starting this season because we have not had all of our players for practices until a week ago. But we think that we will be able to progress more quickly because of the fall sports team’s success. We are excited to get the season rolling to challenge ourselves to make a deep run in the playoffs and make an appearance in the state tournament.”
Hampshire
Head coach: Danny Alkire
Last year’s record: 12-10
Key losses: Zack Hill, Alex Hott, Ashton Haslacker (East Hardy transfer)
Key returners: Jenson Fields (11.1 points, 46 3s), Easton Shanholtz (10.6 points, 5.7 rebounds)
Coach’s quote: “We as a team have high expectations for this upcoming season. Individually, we have some guys who have put in a lot of time this offseason and they are ready to go. We looked to strengthen up our schedule the best we could as we want to put ourselves in the best position competitively come late February and into March.”
Keyser
Head coach: Scott Furey
Last year’s record: 7-18
Key losses: Jacob Weinrich, Sammy Bradfield
Key returners: Noah Broadwater (14.1 points, 3.8 assists), Mike Schell (5.2 points, 4.5 rebounds)
Mountain Ridge
Head coach: Tim Nightengale
Last year’s record: 18-4
Key losses: Nathaniel Washington, Amare Kennedy, Bryce Snyder
Key returners: Peyton Miller (14.0 points, 7.0 rebounds), Uma Pua’auli (6.3 points, 4.8 rebounds)
Coach’s quote: “It’s going to take some time for us to get our basketball legs and get things flowing and understanding what our roles are on the team. We’re going to take some lumps, but we’ll be fine. We have some nice players, we’ve got three returning players from last year’s squad. We just have to get things ironed out. It’s a long season, everybody makes the playoffs. We’re just going to try to get better every day.”
Northern
Head coach: Ron Opel
Last year’s record: 11-12
Key losses: Tyler Yoder, Jeff Eyler, Austin Hinebaugh
Key returners: Kellen Hinebaugh (12.2 points, 6.7 rebounds), Ethan Sebold (7.9 points, 5.7 rebounds)
Coach’s quote: “We have a fairly experienced team this season, with two starters returning and three others who logged considerable minutes last season. I really like our depth. We can comfortably go eight or nine deep. We have pretty decent size this season, for Northern’s standards at least, both at the guard position and in the post. As always, we will play hard and rely on our hard work, size and athleticism to be successful this season.”
Petersburg
Head coach: Stacey Berg
Last year’s record: 4-20
Key losses: Slade Saville, Ian VanMeter
Key returners: Bumby VanMeter (11.2 points, 7.6 rebounds)
Coach’s quote: “We are young. I’m not going to give a number of wins, losses or winning percentages. I am fine with the progression and development of our program. If this occurs, then it will be a successful season. The wins will come with that. … We have two seniors with two years of experience at the varsity level and we lose one, William “Bumby” Vanmeter, before the season due to an ankle injury. He will be missed. His absence will leave a hole in our program this year.”
Southern
Head coach: Tom Bosley
Last year’s record: 13-9
Key losses: Isaac Upole, Gabe Hebb, Ethan Glotfelty, Tanner Haskiell
Key returners: Jared Haskiell (28 3s)
Coach’s quote: “Where we are in February, how much we can improve our defense. Those are the things that are important. Do we improve on the rebounding? Because if we don’t, we’ll get beat a lot. Everybody is going to be bigger.”