By Christopher Tremblay, Staff Sports Writer

Last winter, the Ashland Boys Basketball team was an incredibly young squad composed of nine underclassmen who gained a significant amount of varsity experience on the court, yet only secured two wins on the season. 

From that 2-18 campaign, the Clockers lost Tri-Valley League All-Star Honorable Mention, Robbie Rudisill, who had been the team’s leading scorer for the past three seasons. Although he will be missed dearly, Coach Mike Normant knows that the scoring is going to have to come from somewhere else.

Ronan Kyatsandra. Photo submitted by Coach Mike Normant

Normant will be looking for last year’s junior captains, Hugo Rossi and Ronan Kyatsandra, to take the reins and guide the team. Both athletes are three-year varsity players who bring a lot of experience to the court. Although neither Rossi nor Kyatsandra has been called upon in the past to do a lot of scoring, Normant will specifically look to them to up their offense game this winter.

Rossi is the tallest player on the team and will do a lot on both ends of the court, especially on the boards, and brings a strong defensive presence. Kyatsandra is the team's facilitator on offense and is an excellent leader who will need to score more. According to the Coach, the vacuum that Rudisill left in terms of scoring will heavily fall upon the two seniors.

In addition to last year's captains helping out on the scoreboard, junior guard Ygor Sebadini will also be a primary contributor to the team’s offense. Michael Schreiber, a junior forward, supplies the team with its energy.

“He’s an important part of our team defense as well as finding a way to put the ball in the basket,” Normant said. “He’s not flashy, but he does get things done. He’ll get a ton of rebounds for us while also keeping the play alive.”

Ashland will also have a bunch of other athletes that the coach will be looking to play at an elevated level. In general, Normant will be looking for those four or five players who earned valuable varsity playing time last winter to improve their game this year. 

Coming into the year, Normant is looking for his team to complete on a regular basis, night in and night out, not worrying about wins and losses.

“Playing in the Tri-Valley League large division is very tough, and we will have to go up against some very talented teams twice,” Normant said. “The players are enthusiastic about their ability to play the game against some tough teams  where they will need to challenge each and every one of our competitors.”

Normant believes that he has a good group of kids who want to compete at a high level. Having a large number of juniors, when all is said and done, could be around nine players, and having all played together for a long time could become meaningful. If the juniors can create chemistry with the seniors, the Clockers should have success on the court this year.