With only one returning starter, the type of basketball season underway for the Wakefield Warriors is kind of indescribable at this time, according to the team’s longtime head coach Tony Bentley.
“Is it a rebuilding season or something else? I’m not really sure yet,” Bentley said of his boys high-school squad.
However this season is explained, so far the Warriors have being doing well, with a 3-1 overall record.
But the results have been mixed. “We have played OK for periods, then not so well,” Bentley told ARLnow.
The team’s returning starter is junior guard Ethan Poole, a three-year varsity player. Other returning players who weren’t starters last fall are senior guards Shane Morrison, Isiah Ledbetter and Keyon Tiggle, senior forward Gabe Henneman and senior center Kooper Odar.
Junior guard Dyson Beaty is a transfer player and new for Wakefield. Senior guard Antonio Posey is new to the lineup and had a good game in the Warriors’ win over West Springfield, scoring 17 points.
Wakefield opened its season with a 55-53 home victory over the Lake Braddock Bruins, lost to the visiting Olympic Trojans, 58-51, from Charlotte, N.C., followed by wins over West Springfield, 61-41, and Mount Vernon, 42-38.
The Warriors’ next game is Monday (Dec. 16) at home against the Langley Saxons at 7:30 p.m. in their Liberty District opener of the season. The squad then hosts the Westfield Bulldogs Thursday (Dec. 19) at 7:30 p.m. in non-league play.
After those games, next up Wakefield will host the annual eight-team George Long Holiday Hoops Tournament Dec. 26-28. This will be the 21st year for the tourney.
In addition to Wakefield, tournament competitors will be defending champion Oscar Smith from Chesapeake; Potomac, Osbourn and Freedom-Woodbridge from Prince William County; Washington-Liberty of Arlington; and Chantilly and previous champion South County from Fairfax County. The brackets have not yet been set.
Wakefield last won the tournament in 2015. Washington-Liberty has participated most years, but has not yet won the title.
