Returning seniors on varsity boys basketball have one season left at Prairie High School until graduation. Sharing their regrets from last season and aspirations for their last year on the team, a look into what Prairie can expect from the boys, this 2023 winter basketball season.
This year’s team has four seniors. Henry Moultrie, Brendan Carter, Solomon Ogbeama, and Caleb Knight
Last year’s 2022 season was rough for the team with a record of 8 in 16, losing to their rival schools, and 4 varsity players quitting. The team was affected physically and emotionally by the loss of the very valued players. Despite these take the team went on to beat Evergreen High School in a three-way tiebreaker, allowing them to go on and continue their season and play at districts.
A common regret from last season was focused on the team as a whole, their bond. When asked about changes he wanted for this year’s season, senior varsity returner Brendan Carter responded with, “Definitely the culture, last year was a lot of the team wasn’t there, we weren’t connected, we need to get that together this year.” Brendan has been playing for Prairie’s boys’ basketball team for his full 4 years, He is optimistic for his last year as a shooting guard, he remarked “The connection between the players is better this year, I look forward to it.”
The school had its 3-day tryouts in early November and now has a team of 14 made up of both experienced returners and promising new talent. Senior Cayleb Knight was impressed by the turnout, “we got new players, good, young and athletic.” Solomon Ogbeama noted, “The team chemistry is pretty good, got some guys that can shoot some buckets.”
With all the positive feedback from the players, we can hope for a great season this year, both Henry Moultrie and Brendan Carter talked about how they’re looking forward to playing Mountain View HS.
The main worry for this new season was team chemistry, but with new faces and returning players getting along this hasn’t been an issue.
