Shane Utton

Staff Writer

The men’s basketball team was disappointed with last year’s 3-7 conference record and is determined to improve from last season.

“We have to play better defense and we have to play as a unit,” Michael Fenison, men’s basketball coach, said. “We are really young but they work hard. Our youth might hurt us a little but we just have to see how that plays out.”

Fenison said that there were some games that the Warriors had “in the bag,” but lost them in the end.

“We have to improve rebounding,” Fenison said. “We lost a game at south West and Cerritos that should have been our wins.”

At the moment the back court is lacking players because of injuries to guards Christian Clark and Joshua Wilson.

“I’m hurt right now, but all I want to do is come back and contribute,” Clark said. “I have been working on every part of my game since the summer and I just want to play basketball.”

The front court is stacked with many strong freshman and a few returning sophomore, Fenison said.

Sophomore forward Cameron Gray and freshman forward Shawn Ray will provide a shooting presence around the perimeter. Sophomore center Julian Dakdouk is looked at to rebound, Fenison said.

“Cameron can guard almost any position, because of his athleticism and his ability to score from the perimeter,” Fenison said. “Shawn has improved tremendously since the summer and Julian is a big body, very wide, but athletic.”

Fenison added, the back court, even though injured, is deep. Besides Clark and Wilson, there are two other incoming guards that can make some noise, Jamar Cannon and David Howard, Fenison said.

“Jamar is a really good scorer and you can’t get enough of those guys,” Fenison said. “David is a good defender. It’s going to be interesting to see how they both play.”

“Defensively we are looking to be a good team,” Gray said. “But offensively we have so many weapons and everybody brings something different.”

The Warriors start their season next week at home participating in the Paul Landreaux Classic Tournament in the North Gymnasium.

The team is determined to start the season off with a win at home and make a presence in its conference, Gray said.