Friday, Nov. 22, the Varsity Boys Basketball team will be kicking off their season with the Parkway West Jamboree.  The Knights will face West Minster High School and Parkway West High School.  Although they are preseason games, the team hopes to have a good performance to create some momentum to start the season.

“It give us a chance to work together as a team to face someone other than ourselves and it lets us expose our weaknesses before the season starts,” senior center Josh Carpenter said.

The Knights look to improve off an 8-18 record from the previous year but will have a big void to fill losing 2013 senior and point leader Kyle Lemons.  Lemons lead the Knights offensive charge last year with 459 points, 137 rebounds, and 29 three pointers; all team-leading totals.  Lemons also won the GAC South Player of the Year last year.

“Losing Kyle affects us because now we will have to work more as a team instead of having to depend on one guy to score most of our points,” senior forward James Gleeson said.

While Lemons won’t be back, the Knights will be lead by a large senior presence with 11 seniors and only three underclassmen. The Knights believe the experience and maturity of their team will be key.  Carpenter believes that senior Taylor Salzano will be key in the Knights offense.

“He works hard and has a great shot,” Carpenter said.

While the team’s record fell short of expectations last year, they did build momentum near the end of the season. The Knights had a late season run and were able to make it to the second round of districts.  The Knights lost the game to Zumwalt North in double overtime. The Knights want to expand on their performance from last year and add on to their district run.

“We started good the first game and then Kyle broke his collarbone,” head coach Darrell Davis said, “It took us a while to adjust and when he got back he still wasn’t 100 percent but when we got to districts we played the basketball that I believed we could.”

The team’s first game will be in the St. Charles West Classic on Dec. 9.  Their home opener will be Dec. 17 against Ritenour.