Sweet Home boys basketball coach Paul Schintzius couldn’t even have a playbook ready for the Panthers’ opener Saturday. Orchard Park and Riverside scheduled a nonleague game last Thursday because both knew they wouldn’t have their full rosters set. Grover Cleveland had four days of practice before it tipped off a week ago tonight.

What’s to blame? One of the best football seasons in Western New York history.

All of those schools are expected to contend for league titles, but because large portions of their rosters were involved in lengthy football campaigns — the season takes a long time when you’re making history — one can understand if they bring the ball up the court a bit slowly to start this year.

On the other end of the court, two of last year’s top teams are already off to a fast-breaking start: Niagara Falls and Nichols.

The pair has already appeared ready for the playoffs, with Falls going 2-0 against top competition at the Cataract Classic and Nichols doing the same in winning a title at the Pastor-Cooper Tournament.

Falls beat top Ontario team Mother Teresa and Section V (Rochester area) power Rush-Henrietta. Nichols thumped Maryvale and beat Grover Cleveland.

On Saturday, both get another great test: each other. Falls hosts Nichols at 7 p. m. in a battle of favorites from the Niagara Frontier League and the Monsignor Martin Association, respectively.

Niagara Falls’ quick and impressive start almost made onlookers forget that it returned just two starters in seniors Kelvin Agee (6-foot-2) and Mike Crumpton (6-5). Agee may have deferred to News Player of the Year Rahshon Tabb last season, but he showed signs late last season that he could take over a contest with his well-rounded game, signs that got stronger at the Empire State Games this summer.

Davon Marshall goes from reserve sharpshooting guard into the starting lineup along with savvy senior Wayne Ollison and junior Gelajiade Brown. Reserve guard C. J. Cox makes the game much faster when he checks in.

Falls might even get stronger later this season if it gets back Myron Respress, a 6-8 junior. Respress is back at Falls after initially transferring to a prep school but is currently ineligible.

Nichols returns its core of three juniors who started as sophomores last year: 6-8 major Division I recruit Will Regan and the backcourt of multitalented Ronald Canestro and point guard Andy MacKinnon. Conner Vandegriff, another junior who is 6-3, should become a nice complement to Regan down low after transferring from Roy-Hart.

Just for the record: Niagara Falls and Nichols combined to go 5-14 in football this season.

To the credit of coaches who share hallways and locker rooms with football powers, they all scheduled tough games early on, and they have the records to prove it.

Defending Yale Cup champion Grover Cleveland, which had point guard Chris

Holland quarterbacking the Presidents in their Harvard Cup loss on Thanksgiving, lost to Nichols in overtime at the Pastor- Cooper. Harvard Cup champion Riverside — which returns junior big man (and football player) Isaiah Jefferson — lost its opener to a talented Orchard Park team that includes football players Kyle Perla and David Goltz.

State champion football schools Sweet Home and Maple Grove also lost their openers against tough competition.

Sweet Home, which has football players Will Reese, Brandon Hudson and D. J. Nettles in its rotation, lost to Henninger of Syracuse at the Cataract Classic.

At Maple Grove, quarterback/ point guard Chris Secky will get some passes back from wide receiver/off-guard Joe Caporale after the two connected for 13 touchdowns in the fall. The Red Dragons fell to Section V power Batavia at the Olean Tipoff.

The Catholic football finalists may also need some time to get their timing down. Canisius, which has a talented post presence in outstanding 6-5 football linemen Pat Wilson and Andrew Zdrojewski, as well as a gritty guard in quarterback Sean Brady, dropped its opener to Aquinas at the Cataract Classic. Football champion St. Francis, which lost its opener at Lake Shore, will work senior quarterback Delano Fabor into the rotation as he’s playing basketball for the first time in three seasons.

Lackawanna, which won the Section VI Class B title in football and lost its opener to Depew at the Pastor-Cooper, didn’t have Connolly Cup winner Capone Smith available for their first week but coach Tim Foley said he’ll be on the court soon.

Here’s a league-by-league look at a season in which there appears to be plenty up in the air:

Yale Cup

Some familiar suspects are expected to be at the top despite losses of varying kinds, while

there is an intriguing newcomer in small-but-talented Middle Early College, coached by Randy Rich, who moved over from Buffalo Arts. It lost its opener by four points at Lockport's

tournament to the host Lions, who then beat St. Joe's in the final.

Middle College features two standout guards who were among the top players at different

schools last year. Darale Young transferred from Bishop Timon-St. Jude, while explosive scorer

Justin Stokes has attended Middle College, but played for Riverside last year since his school

didn't have a team yet. If that wasn't enough, the team's leading stat guy has been sophomore

guard Davon Alexander, who had 34 points, including three three-pointers, against Lockport.

Defending champion Grover Cleveland and coach Earl Schunk (20th varsity season, 11th at Grover) lost its top six players and has only one senior, but despite the short practice

season the Presidents had Nichols beat at the Pastor-Cooper until the final minute.

Sophomore point guard Chris Holland excels at setting up teammates and pushing his very

capable offensive game when necessary while the frontcourt should be more fearsome as the

season goes on thanks to senior Kenyon Edwards and mobile junior Melvin Virgil. Both played

very well at both ends against Nichols' Regan. The backcourt has two three-point sharpshooters

in small-but-ultraquick sophomore Kenny Pringle and junior Ricky Alejandro.

Schunk, in his 20th varsity season and 11th at Grover, is 134-50 over the last eight years

after starting 5-36.

East said good-bye to three stalwart seniors, including first-team All-WNYer Jamal Webb, but greets Burgard transfer Dallas Gary. At 6-4 he can drive the lane like much smaller

players and finishes thanks to some superb body control.

Junior Domonique Jackson can do several things on offense while senior Henry Mingo is and

diligent do-it-all contributor on defense. Like Grover, the Panthers showed off two

three-point guns at the Pastor-Cooper in junior Deon Robinson and sophomore Wesley

Hamilton.

East, which has just three seniors, has some tough nonleague games including a trip to

Rush-Henrietta's holiday tournament. There the Panthers will face East of Rochester, which

lost to Niagara Falls in last year's regional round. Coach Starling Bryant, in his 13th season

with Traditional/East, will hit the 200-win mark with his next victory.

McKinley returns one of the area's top players in Mansa Habeeb, but it will be interesting to see how the Macks adjust in their first season without coach James Daye under former JV

coach Zaire Dorsey and veteran Romeo McKinney. The frontcourt will also miss Tamere Shannon

and Chandler Williams.

Riverside can always be counted on to be in the mix, and while it graduated two explosive guards (Ajay Hopson and Eric Baylor) and had another leave (Stokes), it still has a force in

Isaiah Jefferson (6-2 junior). Ira Watkins, and 6-3 senior who came on strong last season,

also returns and is the Frontiers' tallest player. Coach Ron Killinger is sure to put together

a competitive squad from a roster of 14 that is all seniors or juniors.

Hutch-Tech returns all of its players and has picked up where it left off: following a

strong sectional run to Buffalo State the Engineers have started 2-0 by beating West Seneca

West and host team at the Pioneer Motorsport Tournament.

Roman Brown returns for South Park after averaging 24 points last year and earning

first-team All-High large school honors. Nick Harris is back at point guard while freshman

sixth man Rodrick Hough has been a pleasant surprise for second-year coach Tim Delaney.

Seneca, which had players from two academic programs on the team last year, is now one team now that the school has transitioned into the Math, Science and Technology Prep School at

Seneca. Coach Scott Kirsch's team is all juniors and one freshman, with the top returning

players all juniors in big man Eric Hall and guards Dominick Pitts and Andre Frasier.

"It will be an exciting year for us," said Kirsch. "I have a group of kids that are hungry,

want to learn and get better and aren't afraid to work hard. This could be a special group of

kids for the next two years and I look forward to watching them improve and become fine young

men, make some noise in the gyms and play the style of basketball that people like and have

come to expect from Seneca."

The Indians will be tested with games against Fredonia and Southwestern at the Dunkirk

Showcase and at the Holland Tournament (which Seneca won last year), not to mention the Yale

Cup. Come postseason, they may be able to some damage in the Class D backet.

Defending Class B-2 champion City Honors (Abram Miller, Erik Prophet, Byron Brown) and a Lafayette (Jeff Curry, Charles Tubbins) team which shared second place in the league last year have some significant graduation losses to deal with.

Bennett, which strugged to a 6-14 season last year, has a deep squad that has already energized by a 3-1 start which included the Niagara Catholic Tip-Off championship. Buffalo Arts' new coach is Todd Strange.

Monsignor Martin

While Nichols is the accepted favorite, league watchers know that most every meeting can be

a war.

Plenty of the battle will be waged inside. Nichols has the best in Regan, but there is no

shortage of big bodies.

Canisius' football guys will bang inside, Brady will hit from outside while junior Blair

Helton is a player to watch after his impressive postseason appearance in last year's

Manhattan Cup playoffs.

Despite a loss to Lockport in that team's Tip-Off and only three seniors on the roster,

everyone should know not to count out St. Joe's . Last year people shrugged off the Marauders

only to have previously unknown Phil Maiarana go on to an All-WNY season as St. Joe's won its

fourth Manhattan Cup in coach Mark Simon's eight years (he's 169-50).

Junior Sean Mulhern is the big man to build around while senior Evan King is a nice

complement up front. Junior Kyle Wojciechowski -- who, like Helton, showed some skills in the playoffs -- is joined by newcomers junior Matt Dyrek, freshman P.J. Blanch and sophomore Steve Moser. Bad news for the league: The St. Joe's JV was 19-2 last year.

Three-year starting point guard Connor Kobis is back leading Bishop Timon-St. Jude, and

he'll be trying to find athletic 6-4 senior Justin Mitchell and improving 6-4 junior Dut Dour

down low.

St. Francis returns senior guard Ozzie Lumpkin, the Red Raiders' leading returning score,

along with Fabor and several big bodies.

A scaled-down, three-team Class B crew appears to be headed by St. Mary's and new coach Dan

Gill, also the school's athletic director. Four transfers -- including 6-6 sophomore Peter

Notaro -- are all at least two inches taller than returning players Joe Barnhardt (5-11

junior), Sean Kavanagh (6-foot senior) and Dan McFarland (6-1 senior). Notaro came over from

Lancaster, as did 6-3 juniors Joe Cellino and sharp-shooting Vince Kazmierczak, while 6-3

sophomore Chad Griffin transferred from Depew.

The Lancers are already off to a 5-0 start which includes a win over Lancaster (Gill's alma

mater) in the rival Redskins' tip-off tournament and an attention-getting rout of Alden Monday

night.

Speaking of transfers, Cardinal O'Hara will work to overcome guard Keron Briggs' departure to Sweet Home. Niagara Catholic has a new coach in Eric Fields as the Patriots try to rebound from heavy graduation losses of Dyrell Dolson and A.J. Roberts.

ECIC I

It is grueling in ECIC I no matter what sport you're playing, and the basketball mix got a

little thicker with the addition of Hamburg, which moved up after sharing the ECIC II title

last year. New coach Tim Brueckl takes over after two years coaching the JV and welcomes back

only one player who saw significant time in point guard Caleb Sarikey, although 6-5 senior

center Jayson Weigel is expected to make an impact.

The Bulldogs enter a league which has several suitors.

The defending champion is Frontier, which boasts ECIC Player of the Year Jason Norsen, but

the Falcons enter the season without one of their key cogs in injured Grant Wrap (ACL tear).

The intial return time for the senior was February but he'll be undergoing additional tests in

the next few weeks.

Gary Domzalski, in his 23rd year coaching Frontier, returns senior Mike Grundtisch in the

backcourt. Senior Pete Morgante, a reserve last year, could help round out the scoring ... he

had 19 points in a season-opening loss to Grover in the Pastor-Cooper. Up from JV are

sophomore Darius Edwards, long-armed junior Joel Pike and smart sixth man junior Nick

Petronik.

The team that went the furthest last year was Jamestown, which returns 5 of its top 7

including deadly shooter and leading scorer (15.8 ppg) Carlos Rivera, a 5-6 junior. Ben

Cecchini (12 ppg and 8 rpg last year), a 6-4 senior, is also back from a Red Raider team that

knocked off Riverside and Frontier on its way to the AA final. He's joined by 6-3 sophomore

Darin Butts and 5-8 senior shooter Jordan White (40 percent from three last season) as well as

Southwestern transfer Fletcher Larson, a 6-8 junior.

Jamestown and coach Ben Drake will have to find new floor leadership after graduating

wonderful point guard Marcus McAffee to Jamestown Community College.

A hip league preseason pick is Orchard Park, which returns everyone who was starting at the

end of last season, when the Quakers eliminated Hamburg in the sectionals. Leading the way is

shot-blocking senior and ECIC first-teamer Tom Comfort (34 blocks from the OP career record).

Point guard Kyle Perla is also within striking distance of a very famous name in the record

book -- he's 136 assists away from the OP record set by Brian Dux (373) after recording 159

last year. Seniors Dan Berlad, Dave Goltz, and Chas Kukoleca and junior Troy Nowak can shoot

it or share it. OP's summer resume isn't a bad one, having lost in the playoffs in two leagues

to Grover Cleveland. The Quakers host Nichols on Dec. 15 and will play two tough games in

Pittsburgh during the holidays.

The team with arguably the most solid foundation returning is Williamsville North, which

welcomes back twin brothers Alex and Steven Barth and is off to a 3-0 start. Alex is expected

to lead the offense while Steven is a defensive stopper who's able to guard point guards

through power forwards. Mark Balsom returns to lead the Spartans at point guard.

As if that weren't enough, Clarence started its season 2-0 including a very nice win at

North Tonawanda in the Jacks' tip-off. The Red Devils may have just one returning starter

(junior Nick Mahoney) but boasts sophomores David Hill (26 points in opener) and 6-6 Tyler Funk.

ECIC II

When Williamsville South and Sweet Home met in football, the teams combined for 78 points.

The hoopsters know how to score as well.

South returns most of the nucleus (four double-figure scorers) of a team that never met a

three it didn't like -- the Billies were tops in the Basketball Coaches Association of New

York's three-point standings by hitting 174 of 489 for 36 percent. In its opener at Timon,

South his 9 of 17 threes.

Leading the way was 6-1 sophomore Joe Licata, who hit 44 percent of his threes (74 for 168)

and is already off to a great start this year with 16 triples in three games. Phil Stasiak,

another 6-1 sophomore, led the Billies in scoring last year at 15 points per game, breaking

the South freshman scoring record with 314 points.

Setting those two up for all those threes is junior point guard Mark Coppola, who puts the

fun in fundamental. Coppola has grown a little, up a couple of inches to 5-6, after a season

in which he averaged 13.8 points and 8.9 assists. He is already second on South's all-time

assist list with 343. The Billies also return some size in 6-4 senior Zach Murray (10.6 ppg).

Coach Al Monaco, in his 21st season, is three wins from the 300th in his career.

Sweet Home may take some time to find its footing, but the hard-working, athletic Panthers

and 10th-year coach Paul Schintzius are expected by most to be the team most likely to

challenge South.

The addition of scoring point guard Keron Briggs, a transfer from Cardinal O'Hara, gives

the Panthers a place to start and a possible foil for Coppola. Donnie Watkins was very

impressive late last year, and while several football standouts will help, it will be

extremely hard to duplicate the intensity of graduated senior Ali Ramadan.

Sweet Home's schedule is murderous (St. Joe's, Fordham Prep, Canisius, McKinley), but

consider the first two months of the year the preseason for a team that is known to always

bring it come playoff time.

Everyone's "sleeper" pick in this division is Lake Shore.

Jason Radwan, who will play baseball at St. Bonaventure, shifts over one spot in the

basketball infield from shooting guard to point guard. He'll surely be settign up 6-7 junior

Sean Bellomo and classmate Erix Marx -- a duo that has already made their mark as double-double men. Coach Dan Gerken has already been very impressed by his team's work ethic.

Williamsville East returns two starters in Mike Silvestry and 6-11 Mark Rutecki while point guard Kevin Castine returns.

Starpoint and 17th-year coach David Schopf moves up from ECIC III and brings with it 6-6, 210-pound co-captain and third-year player Matt Harrington as well as 6-1 co-captain Joe

Scibilia and junior guard Jon Corbi. The Spartans host their first holiday tournament on Dec.

29-30, sponsored by the Pendleton Lions Club, and it's a good one: Alden, Lockport and

Maritime Charter.

Andy Jacobs is the successor to Archie O'Bryan at Iroquois after spending 22 years as his assistant. The Chiefs graduated nine players but return its backcourt of 5-8 senior Calvin

Sluberski and 6-footer Paul Wirth.

Coaches in the league are leery of West Seneca East, which appears to have its best squad in recent years.

ECIC III

A league which was already quite strong with two-time champion Depew as well as Maryvale,

Pioneer and Cheektowaga is now joined by former ECIC IV resident East Aurora .

The Blue Devils and 15th-year coach Gary Schutrum (191-99 entering year) feature veteran

leadership and up-and-comers -- and that's just in one family.

Senior point guard (and golf standout) Thad Wier was an ECIC IV first-teamer last year

after setting school records for assists (six per game) and steals (4.5) in a season. Freshman

shooting guard Stan Wier will certainly see time because he already has, averaging 11.5 points

last year as an eighth-grader. Both Wiers look up to 6-6 sophomore center C.J. Coatsworth, who

was the team's seventh man last year and is coming off a productive summer. EA has a deep

rotation which afforded it a close loss to Alden in the final of the Greg Martin Memorial

Tournament at Iroquois despite having a couple of players out.

The Blue Devils move up league-wise but slide down class-wise, returning to Class B-1. With

a nonleague schedule of Grover Cleveland, St. Francis, Hutch-Tech, Lake Shore, Alden and

Holland, EA has put together a lineup that should prepare it for February.

Depew has graduated heart-and-soul guard Greg Osika, but it has already shown very well

early, hustling and playing smart in beating Lackawanna and playing East tough at the

Pastor-Cooper. Sharpshooter Tyler Stephens returns, while senior Chris Battaglia has lit it up

early. Big man Zach Zmich is coming off a good summer while junior Jacob Maryniewski steps into the point guard spot.

The Depew-Maryvale games should continue to be a lot of fun. The Flyers began in a

different division at the Pastor-Cooper and started 0-2 against about as tough a first two as

a team could have: Grover and Frontier. Not that Maryvale needed to be even more battle-tested

-- senior guard Brooks Estarfaa and junior forward Andre Davis are veterans of Buffalo State

runs by the Flyers. Brooks' younger brother, sophomore Blake, should be a big part of things. Maryvale's JV went 19-1 last year.

Pioneer returns Lucas Haskell and Mike Malicki and will definitely be part of a slug-em-out

league schedule, which also includes Cheektowaga. The Warriors graduated their three top

scorers but will turn to senior forward David Holmes (nearly averaged a double-double at 6

feet tall), athletic senior guard Damond Rainey and sophomore forward and tough defender Aswad

Jones.

Cheektowaga has a good field (Akron, St. Mary's, JFK) for its first holiday tournament Dec.

29-30.

ECIC IV

As sure a thing in high school hoops is Lackawanna being a favorite in ECIC IV, but Alden

will try and say something about that this year. The Steelers are deep but so are the

Bulldogs, who have 6-7 junior Christian Barczykowski. Alden's deep lineup also boasts football standout Matt Schwartz, who can shoot the ball.

Lackawanna returns top player Darren Cleveland, point guard Dondre Alexander, Smith and 6-3 Jon Alvarado while transfers Dwayne Bennett 6-3 and Jerrold Williams 6-5 make the Steelers

fast and big.

Holland returns starters in seniors Pat McNerney and Billy Shaver while freshman Jordan Farrant saw a lot of time last year. The Dutchmen, who were the C-1 runners-up last year, have

a tough nonleague schedule and should give those two front-runners fits.

Six juniors were were part of a JV team that went 12-0 for Cleveland Hill last year include explosive swingman Aaron Sanders, outside threats Kevin Brown and Andrew Gilliam and forward Jacob Zielinski. They join All-Western New York lineman and returning starter Curtis Hairston (15.4 ppg, 7.6 rpg last year).

Niagara Frontier League

The main challenger to Falls in the Niagara Frontier League looks to be Grand Island, which has plenty of height and delivered a Falls-like rout (72-23) against Cardinal O'Hara at the

Cataract Classic. Greg Feathers (6-5), top wide receiver Alex Neutz (6-3) and Jonas Stalyga

(6-6) all averaged double figures last year. Stalyga averaged 18 points, 11 rebounds and three

assists for the Vikings.

Lockport might be right up there with the Vikings as far as being a foil to the Falls. The Lions started its season in fine fashion by outscoring Middle College and then beating St.

Joe's to win its tip-off tournament. Justin Guyton (10 points, five rebounds, three assists)

last year is part of a small but speedy squad.

Lew-Port senior Robbie Seyler and North Tonawanda junior Aaron Davis are not only among the best in their league but the best in Western New York. Seyler averaged 25 points last season and might go higher with his long-range game.

Davis is one of nine players back from last season for the Jacks -- he averaged 21 points

last season and was part of the gold medal-winning Empire State Games team in the summer. He

has an excellent all-around game -- just like in football.

NT coach Eric O'Bryan is joined by father Archie, who retired as Iroquois coach after last

season, on the sidelines. The Jacks will play at Iroquois in its season finale on Feb.

19.

Chris Gruarin (10 points, six rebounds last year) is back for Niagara-Wheatfield while both Kenmore schools lost big chunks of their teams (Edvin Ramulic for Kenmore West), Anthony Johnson for Kenmore East).

Niagara-Orleans

One Niagara-Orleans coach calls his group "the most underrated league in Western New York."

The good group of small schools could shirk any such title this season as Wilson (B-2

finalist) and Akron (B-1 finalist) return key cogs from teams that reached Buffalo State. Both are in the B-2 bracket this year.

Wilson and ninth-year coach Brett Sippel returns two-time all-league player Ethan Baker,

forward Odane Todd and point guard Brennan Moxham. The Lakemen got off to a great start by

routing larger schools South Park and Lew-Port in its tip-off tournament. In a sign of a

league-wide committment to playing tough competition, Wilson lost to Section V Class AA power

Fairport at the Cataract Classic. Wilson will also play in the Depew Tournament, where it will

meet City Honors in a rematch of last year's B-2 final.

Akron big man J.C. Tretter is a double-double machine -- he started the season with 32 and

19. He's already the school's leading scorer at over 1,000 points and he should approach 1,000

rebounds.

Trevor Short averaged double figures as a sophomore last year while his brother Alec Short

can also shoot it. The Tigers could be very dangerous if 6-5 center Bobby Stone can join

Tretter in doing damage down low. Fourth-year coach Justin Gerstung is an 1998 Akron alum

aiming at winning a league title like the Tigers did during his playing years.

Coach Tom Forrestel and a big-and-athletic (and scrappy) Medina team welcomes back 6-5

junior Levi Pace and guard Nick Peterson, a pair that hooked up plenty of times on the

football field.

An outstanding Newfane team from last year lost three players who are playing in college

right now (Nick Vona, Dave Shuey, Trey Sherrie) but the Panthers and coach Scott Fuller are

always in the mix. They should be again as last year's JV winners move up.

Albion returns some big men for coach Charlie Croft, Roy-Hart and 20th-year coach Mark Rydza has four sophomores on varsity and will have to contend with the transfer of Vandegriff to Nichols, all-league player Ray Paul is back for Barker while CSAT and new coach Michael Mills already have a nice early win over Burgard.

The league is joining with neighboring Genesee Region league of Section V in a late-season

N-O/GR Challenge, something of a bracket-buster event that gives the teams a good postseason

prep test and a nice spotlight late in the regular season.

CCAA

Olean may be a defending state champion, but it lost four starters from the team that won the Class B title. The only returner is fiesty junior guard Joe Palumbo. James Chatmon and

Ryan Carney were key contributors off the bench all the way to Glens Falls for the Huskies.

Among several players who will be moving into the rotation is Alex Moore, younger brother of

past Olean standouts Zach and Sam. Coach Jeff Anastasia enters his 22nd season with a record

of 371-105.

CCAA I rivals Southwestern, Gowanda, Allegany-Limestone and Fredonia return much more and could all challenge for the top. Greg Lauer is the new coach at Fredonia, replacing Dave Polechetti.

Two more new coaches include Brian Koscielnia taking over at Salamanca for Pete Weishan and Mike Manning new coach at Ellicottville.

The CCAA's lower two divisions have been expanded, merging in the teams who were part of

Cattaraugus D as well as independents Portville and Franklinville, which should make for some compelling league races.

Maple Grove moves down from Class C -- where it won the state championship last year -- to

Class D and has to be considered a big favorite.

Clymer, which lost to Pine Valley in the Class D title game, returns seniors Ryan Rice,

Nick Lombardozzi and junior Nick Heil, who all were a part of the eight-man rotation of

fourth-year coach Irv King (53-15).

Sherman and 12th-year coach Cory Emory (161-94) welcome back junior Mike Reed and seniors Corey Sands and Ricky Pratt.