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With mostly fresh faces, the Rockbridge County High School boys basketball team will look to two experienced seniors to lead the way this season.
The Wildcats, under the direction of third-year head coach Rob Winfield, hope to make it to the Region 3C playoffs this season, after just missing out last winter.
Following an 0-7 start, RC finished last season with a record of 11-11 overall and 5-3 in the Valley District. The Wildcats were 11th in Region 3C – just one place out of qualifying for the playoffs.
From that team, the Wildcats graduated four players: high-scoring forward Brandon Mays, forward Daronde’ Stores, guard Andreas Poindexter and center Peyton Jay.
The two returning leaders, both 6-foot-5-inch seniors, are center Milo Mulitalo and guard Henry Lambert. Mulitalo was an all-district first team selection last winter, and Lambert was named to the all-district second team.
“I’m gonna lean on them to kind of expand on what they did last year,” said Winfield of Mulitalo and Lambert. “I’m gonna ask a little bit more out of Milo from a scoring, rebounding, defensive standpoint and make sure we’re consistent, game in and game out.”
Winfield said Lambert, who shoots the ball well from outside, “is going to have a little bit more ball-handling responsibilities. We need to make sure he’s a more consistent scorer as well.”
The RC coach said the Wildcats’ other three seniors – forwards Jackson White (6-1) and Ian Johnson (6-3) and guard Simon Emore (6-0) – “had very good summers. They got much better. They worked really hard, and it showed.”
White and Johnson were both reserves last year and got limited minutes, with both showing their shooting range. This will be Emore’s first year on the varsity team, but he had a good summer of workouts, Winfield said.
The other seven players for the Wildcats are juniors, six of whom played for the Wildcats’ junior varsity team last year. New to the school is forward Sam Ballstaedt (6-3), who played in Utah last year and is the son of Southern Virginia University assistant coach James Ballstaedt. Winfield said the younger Ballstaedt is “a high-end shooter.”
Guards Luke Eversole (6-0) and Noah Hamm (5-8) and forward Zane Ramsey (6-1) – all had good summer workouts with the Wildcats, Winfield said, and he looks forward to their development.
Other juniors moving up from the JV team are forward Brady Edwards (6-4), coming off serving as a lineman for the football team, and guards Ethen Camden (5-10) and Gardner Clement (6-3).
The Wildcats plan to play man-to-man defense, and they’ll aim to have other players help Lambert and Mulitalo out with offense.
Looking forward to the season ahead, Winfield said, “We’re returning two all-district players that have gotten better. Our young guards that needed to improve this summer improved. They worked at it. I’m high on those guys. Our young guards are gonna need to play a lot of minutes.”
Winfield said the Wildcats’ biggest weakness is their inexperience, but he doesn’t see that preventing them from being successful.
One factor that’s hurt them so far was having last Thursday’s scrimmage and Wednesday’s and Friday’s practices canceled due to the poor air quality caused by the Matt’s Creek Fire in Bedford County.
On his coaching staff, Winfield welcomes Ben Kabzinski, who teaches special education at the high school and served as an assistant football coach this year. “He’s got great relationships with the players,” said Winfield, who noted it helps to have a coach who teaches at RC since Winfield teaches business education at Maury River Middle School. “He’s learning the game of basketball, but he’s been a great help, definitely with the eyes in the ears of what’s going on at the high school.”
Gary Randall, who served as the assistant junior varsity coach last year, will be the head JV coach this year.
In the Valley District, Winfield expects perennial district champion Spotswood, with most of its players returning, to be the most challenging opponent. The Trailblazers made it to the Class 3 state quarterfinals last winter and have most of its players returning. Winfield also sees Broadway and Harrisonburg as tough rivals and added that the Wildcats should not overlook any team in the district. In addition to the five teams that competed last year, the Valley District has added two new teams, East Rockingham and William Monroe.
The Wildcats will begin the season when they play host to Alleghany on Tuesday and will travel to Salem the following Tuesday, Dec. 5, before playing host to Fort Defiance on Wednesday, Dec. 6. RC’s first Valley Diction action will be at Broadway on Tuesday, Dec. 12. All four will start with junior varsity action at 5:30 p.m. The Wildcats will take on local rival Parry McCluer twice, with 5:30 p.m. varsity games on Wednesday, Dec. 27 at RC and on Saturday, Jan. 6 at PM. The JV games between the two schools are scheduled for 2:30 p.m. both days, with the 4 p.m. varsity girls’ games between the boys’ games.
