STRATTANVILLE, Pa.— Coming off an 11-12 record last season, the 2022-23 Clarion-Limestone boys basketball team and head coach Joe Ferguson are hoping for an improvement this season, especially with a pretty good returning group of players.
The Lions return their top two scorers from last season in senior Riley Klingensmith (11.8 points per game) and senior Jordan Hesdon (10 ppg.). Junior Tommy Smith (7.5 ppg.) and sophomore Jase Ferguson (7.4 ppg.) also return.
(Pictured above, Jordan Hesdon)
“We lost Nate Megnin and Bryson Huwar to graduation, and we will also be without Ryan Hummell, who decided to do track instead of basketball this season and that will be a big blow to our team as we were considering him to be our big man inside this season,” said Joe Ferguson. “We will have to try and find someone who will be able to take that spot. We do return a solid core of guys on the roster.”
Other players who saw action at the varsity level last season include Jack Callen (Jr.) who appeared in 10 games, Alex Painter (Sr.) who had a 4.1 ppg., Jack Craig (Jr.) who appeared in 16 games, Ty Rankin (Jr.) appeared in 13 games, and Logan Lutz (So.) who appeared in 16 games.
Christian Sarvey (Sr.), Kothen Smith (Jr.), Kohen Kemmer (So.), and Jesse Siewicki (So.) all played on the junior varsity team last season.
New to the team are sophomores Jake Daugherty and Riley Rinker.
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“We have 16 on the roster, which is a nice size to have,” said Ferguson. “I like to have between 16 to 18. That number should give us some pretty decent depth at the varsity level. I think our athleticism is going to be a strength for sure and we also have a lot of quickness. We should be able to go eight or nine deep, and I see that any of those could be starters at one time or another because they are pretty interchangeable. I’m pretty much in the dark as far as what other teams have coming into this season so that will be a challenge in itself in trying to prepare ahead of time for certain opponents.”
“I’ve been preaching this for the past three years or so, but I would like to see us playing a more solid defensive game this season,” continued Ferguson. “I want to see us play with a higher defensive intensity. If we do that, we can create turnovers and get some easy transition baskets. So, we’re really focusing on that in our practices this season.”
As far as the team goals go, Ferguson feels his team goals never really change no matter what type of team he has.
“We’d like to compete for the KSAC South title and get into the KSAC Championship game and hopefully win that,” he said. “We’d like to qualify for the District 9 tournament and possibly bring home a district championship. It will certainly be a challenge because we’re starting behind with one less week of practices and not being in a Tip-Off Tournament. It could take us a few games to get things sorted out, but I’m excited for the season to get going here.”
C-L will open their season at home against Moniteau on December 7.
Clarion-Limestone Area High School sports coverage on Explore and D9Sports.com is brought to you by Redbank Chevrolet and DuBrook.
