By Chris Parker
Gainesville boys basketball finished 12-14 last season. This season, the Bulldogs are aiming for more wins with an experienced roster returning.
“We have a lot of returning varsity experience from last year’s team,” Gainesville head coach Morris Jenkins said. “That experience plus being more familiar with the expectations should lead to more consistent productive play. I feel this group has a lot of upside and has the potential to be a very competitive Class 2 team.”
Grant Leeker leads the returning players in his senior season. He was named first-team all-conference after he averaged 16.5 points, 5.1 rebounds and 3.1 assists per game last season.
Owen Donley is also back for his senior season after averaging 13.3 points, 3.6 rebounds and 2.3 assists per game.
“Owen Donley is a quality guard who shoots it well and has continued to improve at using his dribble to create offensive opportunities,” Jenkins said. “He is a great effort player who competes very well on both ends of the floor on a daily basis.”
Dawson Hewett is a third returning senior. He scored 10.9 points per game with 3.6 rebounds and 2.2 assists per game.
“Dawson Hewett is a very versatile player,” Jenkins said. “He plays a lot of guard but also has the ability to switch to forward positions, which is valuable when we use different lineups. He is a capable shooter who demonstrates strong desire to compete.”
Avery Rodrigue had a strong freshman season on varsity. He averaged 4.4 points, 3.4 rebounds and 1 assist per game.
“Avery Rodrigue is an athletic player who gained valuable varsity experience as a freshman,” Jenkins said. “He is capable of being a great on-ball defender and has shown flashes of being a player who could be hard to guard off the dribble.”
Junior Kolby Anderson rounds out the returning players.
“Kolby Anderson played many valuable varsity minutes last year,” Jenkins said. “He is capable of playing at the guard and forward positions. ery active defensive player who demonstrated signs of being a more consistent offensive threat during our offseason play.”
Past those four players, Jenkins sees several options to fill out the lineup.
“There are several players who are capable of being in the mix for the remaining varsity spots,” Jenkins said. “We have some who are physically more varsity ready and have demonstrated quality basketball ability during off season who will compete for varsity minutes.”
Gainesville opens the season on Nov. 25 at home against Cabool.
“We will emphasize quality effort and unselfishness on a daily basis,” Jenkins said “Our hope is that when others see us play we demonstrate great effort, respectful attitude, and an enthusiastic desire to compete from start to finish.”
