As winter kicks in, that means that it’s time for yet another year of basketball. With this new year comes lots of changes and the team is looking forward to extending off a successful 2019-2020 campaign after finishing 17-8 and making a district championship appearance. But the team has lost some powerful players and is heading into this season with some new faces.. ram.

“Losing lots of guys sucks knowing we lost great scoring as well as great defense. Coming into the season we just have to do everything the same, just with new bodies.” Said senior guard Tristan Meny. Meny also remarked on the advantages of the new lineups. “We have a lot more height this year so we will try and press more and also grab as many rebounds as we can.” 

Here are the players the spartans lost after last season due to graduation: Senior guard Zhvaughn Ward, was the starting point guard last season. Maricus Grant, also shared time at point guard and played excellent defense, and facilitated the ball well. Abdi Ibrahim brought good size at 6”6 and was able to shoot the three-ball effectively. Lastly, the spartans lost Kylum Harper, who was known as a good defensive player and averaged nearly two blocks per game.

With these losses, the team has still had high expectations for what they can accomplish. 

“Our goals this season are to make a state-run.” Said senior Isaiah Johnson. 

Battle currently sits at 5-2 and is looking forward to continuing the success. Even with this record, the team knows that some improvements need to be made in order to reach the goals they have set for themselves. 

“Right now, the main thing is we need to do better at executing in the half-court,” Johnson said. 

It will be interesting to see how Battle can build off of their 5-2 season and whether or not they can reach the goals they have set for themselves.