Eagles looking to build off last year's momentum

ELKHART — There’s optimism surrounding the Elkhart Christian boys basketball team for the upcoming season.

A mix of returning letterwinners and some newcomers has the Eagles looking forward to getting this year underway and improving on last year’s 10-14 record.

The Eagles finished strong, winning seven of their last 10 games.

“I definitely saw some carry-over (from the end of last year) in the summer when we played well in some games,” said ECA head coach Chad Hibbard.

“We’re coming into the year with a lot of confidence. We’re bringing back a really, really strong core and we have a couple of transfers as well that I think can help us.”

The Eagles played games during the summer at Westview and went on a mission trip and played games in the Dominican Republic.

“We lost to Westview and I remember a team from Indy that we struggled against,” Hibbard said. “The team from Indy was good and we lost to them by eight points, but I was really, really pleased with the way we played against them. We beat Angola with a half-court shot at the buzzer. I’ll never forget that game.

“We went 2-2 in the Dominican Republic. The two games that we lost went down to the wire and were very competitive.”

Reid Hoober (11.5 ppg.), Kian Hibbard (10 ppg.), Lewy Eyob (9 ppg.) and Ace Haviland (7 ppg.) are returning starters from last year’s team. Jaden Vida, and Judah Hiler also return for the Eagles after gaining varsity experience a year ago.

“What has stuck out to me about Reid is that physically he’s a lot stronger,” Chad Hibbard said. “With that added strength, he’s going to be able to post up really well and finish well when he drives to the basket.

“Kian is continuing to grow. He’s 6-foot and he’s stronger, bigger and faster this year. He’s never been a shot blocker and he’s been blocking shots this year at practice. With his added speed and strength he’s also finishing well around the basket.

“Lewy has really developed a great mid-range pull up jump shot. That’s great for him because he’s not super tall.

“I don’t know if Judah Hiller will start, but he’ll play starter minutes. He’s a good ball-handler and he can play point guard for us. Judah is our best on the ball defender. He can pick someone up full-court and be an annoying pest.”

Also in the mix to get varsity minutes are transfers Micah Ranous and Asher Lewkowicz. Ranous comes from Granger Christian and Lewkowicz comes from North Carolina.

“Micah is 6-4, long and lanky,” Chad Hibbard said. “He can handle the ball, shoot it and rebound. Also, his shot blocking ability is a nice addition to our team.

“Asher’s dad is the new athletic director at Bethel University. He’s also a nice addition to our team. He’s 6-foot, 6-1 and really, really scrappy. He gets after it defensively and has a nice shooting stroke. Asher is another one that is going to be a solid part of our rotation.”

The negative early on for the Eagles is that many of the players have missed some preseason practices.

“Vida has been out since the beginning because of an Achilles,” Chad Hibbard said. “He just got cleared to start practice on (Nov. 21). “Micah got hurt during our second practice. He came down on someone’s foot and sprained his ankle badly. We hope he gets cleared (on Nov. 25). Ace had a knee issue and just got cleared. Brandon Mwangi’s grandmother died in Kenya and we hope to have him back on December 4th.

“Having guys out it has been hard to get traction. In practices we’ve been bringing in kids from the JV.

“But with that being said, practices have gone well and the guys are working hard. We scrimmaged against Prairie Heights last Saturday and we looked shaky at the beginning. The kids were amped up to play. As the game went along we settled in and looked good.”

Chad hopes his team’s defense is just as solid as it was at the end of last year and that the team improves offensively.

“Our defense came around last year and that helped us stay in games,” the ECA coach said.

“All season long, for whatever reason, we struggled to score. We would have some moments offensively, but we weren’t consistent at that end. I definitely think we’re going to be better in that area this year. This year’s team has a lot of ability and skill.”

The Eagles finished 4-1 in the Hoosiers Plains Conference and shared the league title with Bethany Christian.

“I tend to think that this year it will come down to Bethany, Trinity-Greenlawn and us batting it out for the conference title,” Chad Hibbard said.

“Trinity lost a little bit, but it’s a challenge playing against their 2-3 defense. The game is at their place (on Jan. 20) this year and it’s on my radar. It will be curious to see what Bethany looks like. It was near rock-bottom for us (66-48 loss) when we played them last year.

“I’m very, very excited about our team. When we get everybody healthy I feel like we can go five against five on the court in varsity practice and get after each other. We should have good group of 10 that competes.

“I believe that we can win the conference and there’s no question in my mind that we have a great chance to win the sectional.”