Waukon boys basketball team returns five letterwinners for 2016-2017
Left to right - Front row: Michael Headington, Michael Sweeney, Brandon Regan, Pryce Hesse, Jared Campbell. Back row: Garrett Garin, Colin Waters, Isaiah Welch, Evan Armstead, Ethan Krueger, Tanner Mathis. Not pictured. Kyle Jones, Abe Schwartz, Mitchell Snitker.
The 2016-2017 Waukon boys basketball team will be looking to put together a third consecutive winning season for the program, and will have five varsity letterwinners returning from last season’s squad that posted a second consecutive 12-win season. That number of veteran returnees matches the number of graduated seniors lost from last season’s team, but that graduation loss took with it four of last season’s starting five.
“We have some big holes to fill after graduating four All-Conference players,” Waukon boys basketball coach Jed Hemann said about his charges’ 2016-2017 campaign. “In addition to their leadership, last year’s seniors accounted for over 80% of our scoring last season and over 75% of our rebounding.”
In addition to trying to post a third consecutive winning season, the basketball Indians will also be looking to equal or better their 7-5, third-place finish in the Northeast Iowa Conference from last season. “The conference will be very tough again,” Coach Hemann said. “Waverly will again be the conference favorite. Crestwood will also have a strong team again. Charles City and New Hampton will also be returning a lot of very good players this season.”
The Indians are scheduled to get their 2016-2017 season underway with a Monday, November 28 non-conference home date with Postville. The basketball Tribe will then open its Northeast Iowa Conference (NEIC) season December 9 at Oelwein before hosting the two teams who finished above Waukon in the final NEIC standings, Crestwood and Waverly-Shell Rock, December 13 and 16, respectively.
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