By Stephen Henderson
Coach Andrew Terry takes his Patrick County High School boys’ basketball team to the court this season with a revamped offense and running a new system to compliment the amount of guards on the team this year.
“We don’t really have any true post players, so I have changed some things up to try and take advantage of our ball handling and shooting abilities,” he said. “We will play a very up-tempo game this year so I’m looking forward to how that comes together on the court this season,” he added.
Terry has set the goal pretty high for the team this year. “We are coming off one of the best seasons in boys’ basketball we have experienced in a long time, and we hope to build on that this season,” he explained. “Our goal is to win the Piedmont District and go deep into the playoffs. It will be a tough task, but I believe we have a team that could do it,” said Terry.
Terry sees this year’s team as one with multiple talented players. “We will not depend on just one or two players to get a lot of production from; we have different players who excel at different things,” he said. “We will look to Hunter Lawless and Brandon Hubbard (two seniors) to shoot well from the outside and open up the defense for our driving game. Frankie LaComa, DeAndre Reynolds, and Austin Walter are all great at getting to the rim and can shoot as well” he said. “Darius Hagwood is a very strong player who we will rely on to own the boards and give us a presence inside the paint,” Terry added.
The team is young this year but experienced as well. “We have two seniors, five juniors, and five sophomores. We are returning seven players from last year’s team,” Terry said.
Terry is happy with the first week’s practice. “The guys have picked up on what we are doing pretty quickly, and they have great chemistry as a team. We have a way to go before we fine tune everything, but I like what I’ve seen so far,” said Terry.
This will be Terry’s fourth season as varsity head coach at PCHS. “I think this team has the ability to be the best I’ve coached since I’ve been here. I graduated from PC and played here, so I know what it will take for these guys to be successful with the tough piedmont schedule we play every year,” Terry explained. “I try and make sure I get everything we can out of these kids on the court and in the classroom.”
The Cougars scrimmage at Pulaski County today (Wednesday); their first home game is December 4, against North Stokes.
Lucas Terry assists his brother with the varsity team. Tony Mosley is the head JV coach, and Dale Hagwood is the middle school coach.
“I’m really look forward to this season and watching this team progress from game to game. We expect to be playing well after the regular season,” Terry said.
