LEBANON, Va. — There has been a shuffling of the deck in Russell County basketball. Added to the Pioneer roster, first-team all-region Caden Boyd, along with Max Boyd and Jake Hilton from Honaker, each transferred to Lebanon. Going from Lebanon to Honaker is Lebanon News Boys Player of the Year Keyton Keene. You will need a new roster.
There’s also a new coach directing a veteran-laden Pioneer basketball squad. Scotty Boyd resigned as coach at Southwest Virginia Community College last spring. He was appointed to lead the Pioneers’ basketball fortunes after the resignation of Ryan Potts, who became principal at LHS.
In basketball jargon, Lebanon is ‘loaded’ with talent. Eight players with varsity experience, including four starters, return, along with the three veterans who transferred. In total, 11 experienced players greeted Coach Boyd.
The Pioneers posted 22 wins last season, won a playoff game over Chilhowie for the Hogoheegee District top-seed in Region 1D play, and rolled by the Warriors for the tournament title. However, Grundy, who ended their season in the first round of Region 1D play, shocked them.
As things start, the Pioneers appear ready for a big season as they return to the Southwest District and Class 2.
“Things are going great,” Boyd said. “We’ve got off to a good start, we’ve had some good practices and hope to build off that.”
Brody Wess (5-10, sr.) is returning to direct the offense. He scored over six points, dished out almost four assists, and grabbed four rebounds a game.
“I’m excited,” Wess stated. “Coach Boyd has a different style than what we’re used to. We’re going to play up and down real fast. I’m ready for my senior year and hope it will be a good one.”
Wess is very comfortable with the up-tempo offense employed by the Pioneers this season. His willingness to push the pace in transition will be essential to Lebanon. The offense will be in overdrive the entire game.
“We have to get in shape a lot better than we are now, we have a long way to go,” said Wess. “We will just get out and run, try to find the open man. That should help us to win games, but we have to get active on the defensive side to make that happen.”
Caden Boyd (5-10, jr.), who averaged 11.4 ppg, will provide a lot of punch on the perimeter along with another sharpshooter, Andy Lambert (6-1, sr.), who dropped in 14.4 ppg.
“I’ve put in a lot of work with my Dad (assistant coach Thad Lambert) this off-season,” Lambert said. “We’ve been here almost every night. I’m blessed to be with this team, we’ve worked together all summer. We’re excited and ready to get going.”
Lambert suffered an injury and missed Lebanon’s final two games. It didn’t help their chances in the playoffs. He has recovered and is ready to go.
“It was awful,” commented Lambert. “You work so hard to make it to the postseason, that’s always your goal, and then go down the way I did, it was unfortunate. I’ve been in the weight room trying to get stronger and hopefully have a better season as far as injuries go.”
Missing time makes Lambert eager to get back on the hardwood.
“We’ve had this saying ‘hungry dogs run faster,’ and we’re starving this year,” Lambert said. “Getting beat out in the region the past two years has motivated us to work. We’re looking forward to this season.”
Mike Reece (6-3, so.) returns after scoring 13.3 points with eight rebounds a game in his first year of varsity basketball. Reece made almost 60 percent of his shots, he can pull up and hit floaters and, get all the way to the rim and finish with authority.
“Mike is one of the most talented kids I’ve coached,” Coach Boyd said. “He can shoot and get to the rim. He’s an athlete, just a player.”
Hunter Musick (6-2, sr.) and Chance Parker (5-10. sr.) are also prolific on offense.
Max Boyd (6-5, sr.) will help in the paint with great rebounding ability. Luke Garrett (5-8, so.), Jake Hilton (5-9, so.), and Toby Baker (5-11, so.) all have the potential to make things happen.
“We have a lot of guys that can score,” stated Boyd. “We have six guys who can score 20 points in a game. We’ll be balanced, but Mike and Andy may lead us. We have a couple there to build off of, Caden has looked great shooting the ball in practice. Brody and Chance will pick up their scoring from last year, and Hunter had a good summer. I think we’ll be balanced.”
Coach Boyd’s teams at SWCC were known for shooting the 3 with a run-and-gun style.
“I think we’ll be better defensively here,” Boyd said. “Athletically, I think we can match up with most teams. There are a lot of nights at the college that we couldn’t. We have an athletic team here, so we’ll play as fast as possible.”
Lebanon averaged 68 points and gave up 46 points a game last season. It will be hard to improve on those numbers. You can expect them to mix it up defensively with zone and man.
“I think we’ll do everything, but we’ll be mainly a man team,” remarked Boyd. “We have numerous kids that can pressure the ball. I think Brody, Caden, and Chance, in my opinion, are three of the best on-ball defenders in southwest Virginia, and we’ve got them all three on our team. Hilton has been good defensively guarding the ball. We feel we can throw a lot of guys out there that can pressure the ball. We’ll be fun to watch.”
The move to the SWD will be interesting. Virginia High and Graham both advanced to the state quarterfinals last season.
“It’s a big step up in competition,” Boyd said. “The Hogoheegee has some fine basketball teams. Now we’re playing Graham, that’s a perennial power every year. We scrimmaged them, they will be loaded again this year. Virginia High will be really good. All the teams have some talent, there’s no easy nights in the Southwest District.”
After the early exit last season, five seniors feel they have something to prove in 23-24.
“I think we have a chip on our shoulder, and that’s probably a good thing,” stated Boyd. “Andy was hurt in the Grundy game, there were a couple of things that happened late in that game, a perfect storm of things had to happen to lose that game, and they all happened. Missed free throws, turnovers, and some tough shots Grundy hit. I think there’s still a sting to that, you can tell it was a gut punch for them. They’ve spent the off-season working hard so it doesn’t happen again this year.”
LN picks for Southwest District boys: (1) Graham; (2) Lebanon; (3) Virginia High; (4) Marion; (5) Tazewell; (6) Richlands.