McAuley Catholic boys basketball is taking aim at a second straight district title with a deep returning roster from last season’s 21-9 team.
“Our biggest strength this year will be our depth,” McAuley Catholic head coach Tony Witt said. “We have nine letterwinners returning from last year’s 21-win season. We have a nice mix of players with different abilities that can complement one another.”
Three of the returning players are all-conference seniors in Max Anreder, Alex Bohachick and Connor Taffner.
Anreder earned second-team all-conference honors averaging 9.4 points, 5.7 rebounds, 1.4 assists and 1.1 steals per game.
“Anreder is a high IQ, physical player who can score on all three levels and play multiple positions,” Witt said. “We will look for him to build off a solid junior year campaign.”
Bohachick was also a second-team all-conference selection averaging 8.2 points and 4.6 rebounds.
“Bohachick is a solid defender and rebounder with a nice touch around the rim,” Witt said. “We will look for him to anchor our defense for the third year in a row.”
Taffner was honorable mention all-conference as a junior with averages of 7.2 points, 5 rebounds, 1.5 assists and 1.4 steals per game.
“Taffner is a high IQ, experienced guard with nice range,” Witt said. “We will look for him to share point guard duties along with playing off of the ball.”
Senior Trae Veer also returns and is a “feisty defender with a nice touch from the perimeter” according to Witt.
Juniors Will Mollnow and Rylan Childers each saw action in a majority of the varsity games last season.
Sophomores Thomas Perrin, Eiler Anderson and Gavin Anderson also return.
Luke Mollnow and Rowen Veer are a pair of sophomores who could be in line for minutes on varsity.
“This year’s team returns one starter who was all-conference and all-district, two additional starters who were all conference selections, and six additional lettermen that reached the quarterfinals last season, as well as introduces two newcomers,” Witt said. “This team is deep and experienced, but our approach to this year will be no different as it has been in the past. We still must operate by our standards, control what we can control, and try to be the best version of ourselves that we can be by the end of the season.”
McAuley Catholic opens the regular season on Nov. 25 at Liberal.
“We will have to come out ready to compete every night,” Witt said. “We play a very tough schedule for our size. The conference will be tougher this year than it has been in years past. We play only five regular season games against schools in our class. We also play in three tough tournaments with multiple Class 3 and 4 schools.”
