The 2006-07 Avery Vikings men’s basketball season was one of highs and lows. The low point perhaps came in a pair of contests at Madison in regular season play and at Mountain Heritage in the postseason conference tournament, as Avery struggled in a pair of defeats.
The high points came late at the most welcome time: the end of the season. Avery made an impressive run into the third round of the NCHSAA 1A basketball playoffs with a pair of home wins, then took the third-ranked (and preseason 2007-08 top five) Cherryville Ironmen to the limit on their home floor in a 102-92 thriller in the season finale.
Many components of last season’s Cinderella run are gone, but enough firepower remains to consider the Vikings to be a player in this year’s Western Highlands Conference race.
Avery returns a pair of senior sharpshooters in all-conference player Kyle Cable and swingman Seth Phillips, each of whom showed ability to both slash to the bucket and drain the long bombs a season ago.
In addition, Avery returns senior Pedro Benavides, a key contributor off the bench who may be called upon this season to increase productivity. The Vikings will have a number of newcomers this season whose performance will likely determine how good this year’s squad can be. A number of senior football players transition from the gridiron to the hardwood, including Preston Jennings, who is recovering from a collar bone injury, Logan Lecka, and Michael Pittman, who was unable to play basketball a season ago due to a broken bone in his leg suffered in last season’s football playoffs.
A number of junior varsity players will move up to contribute this season as well, including guards Chris Childress, Jared Ward, and Tyler Blalock.
“The biggest thing we’re trying to do is get into basketball shape. We’ve played more summer basketball this year than we have in the past, but it takes a little time to get the wrinkles out. We’ve had to practice with what we’ve had, but having the football players come out a little later does put us a step behind,” Vikings head coach Art Williamson said during a recent practice.
Early practices before the end of football season have resulted in a good number of players who are trying out for roster spots and helping to round up the shape of this year’s version of the Big Red. “We’ve had 16 to 18 kids come out to practice and we have only two upperclassmen, senior Kyle Cable and junior Jared Ward. We have a lot of young kids. Cole Blackburn has looked good off the hoof, Dustin Clark Cody Hughes, and Joey Potter have played with a lot of enthusiasm and energy. It’s exciting to work with those young guys who are excited and want to be here,” Coach Williamson added. “It has impressed me to have the turnout of young players. When we get the eight or so varsity players come back to join us in the coming days, it will be interesting.”
The infusion of young talent and how quickly they will be able to adjust to the varsity system will be important to how long it takes this year’s team to gel. “People thought we shot the ball fast in the past, and we’re probably gonna have to shoot it faster this season,” the coach explained. “You look at teams like Mountain Heritage with their height and talent, Mitchell has a couple of big kids, Madison has had a great JV program moving up, Owen has been notorious for having big players, and Hendersonville returns most everybody back. Polk County only lost one player off their team, which means our conference will be deep, big, and talented this year. Knowing that, we’re going to focus a lot on defense, probably more than I’ve ever spent in the past. We’ll hope to create some shots off our defense in transition and make some of these bigger teams tired.”
The infusion of young talent and how quickly they will be able to adjust to the varsity system will be important to how long it takes this year’s team to gel. “People thought we shot the ball fast in the past, and we’re probably gonna have to shoot it faster this season,” the coach explained. “You look at teams like Mountain Heritage with their height and talent, Mitchell has a couple of big kids, Madison has had a great JV program moving up, Owen has been notorious for having big players, and Hendersonville returns most everybody back. Polk County only lost one player off their team, which means our conference will be deep, big, and talented this year. Knowing that, we’re going to focus a lot on defense, probably more than I’ve ever spent in the past. We’ll hope to create some shots off our defense in transition and make some of these bigger teams tired.”
Avery starts out of the gate quickly with regular season play at a Thanksgiving tournament at Mitchell, and a non-conference schedule featuring Watauga, Ashe, North Buncombe, and a Christmas tournament at Freedom High School before conference season starts full-force after New Year’s.
“The early season will be a learning experience. We’ll have so many kids who haven’t played basketball in a while, so we’re going to work on getting some games under our belts. Watauga is loaded, Ashe County is playing the likes of Oak Hill, so we’re going to have to come out and play hard with our defense and intensity,” Coach Williamson added. “I’ve been a strong believer in ‘it’s not how you start, but how you finish’. Hopefully we can use those three games from the playoffs last year as building blocks, instilling in our kids the confidence that we gained going into Cherryville’s gym last year and playing with them.”
