Radford High School is used to winning, especially when it comes to boys’ basketball. Coach Rick Cormany has made it a habit to win district titles, and along the way, has also picked up two state championships in the past five years.
Last year, things did not go as planned as the Bobcats ran into a buzz saw in the form of Gate City in the Class 2 region championship game which was led by guard Mac McClung, a YouTube dunk sensation. McClung has moved on to Georgetown, and Radford returns 11 players to a team that finished 27-1 with the lone loss coming to Gate City.
Cormany is beginning his 26th year at the school and has compiled a 662-234 overall mark with 498 of those wins coming at Radford. He does return two-time Timesland player of the year in Quinton Morten-Robertson at the point and a little help inside with 6’6” Miles Jones. Both players have announced plans to stay at home and play for Radford University next season.
Morten-Robertson averaged 21.1 points last season, while Jones had a team-leading 16 blocks.
Radford will also look to sharpshooter Cam Cormany, who is Rick’s son. He shot 45 percent behind the arc last season hitting 83 of 183, and averaged 11.4 points per game.
Sophomore defensive specialist P.J. Prioleau is expected to join the squad this week after finishing a long-football season. He played a big role for the Bobcats and will have to pick up the rock and run with it. He only averaged 5.3 point per game but is expected to increase that this year.
Cormany does have some height with 6’6” Thor Sproule and 6’4” bookends, Andrew Mann and Jon Woods.
He did lose senior forward Kam Edwards who has transfer to a private school in Charlotte, North Carolina.
The Bobcats do not expect to play its first regular season game until Dec. 13 because of the length of the football playoff run. They will play in the Ft. Chiswell holiday tournament where they could face long-rival George Wythe (Cormany’s alma mater). Other big games included a game with Patrick Henry in the Chance Harman Classic in Floyd, against Greensboro Dudley at the Roy Stanley tournament, and Northside in the Adam Ward Classic.
Mike Hunter speaks with a little optimism when addressing his second season at the helm at Christiansburg High School. Last season, the Blue Demons were 6-21 but do return five key cogs (Jordan Harman, Bryon Lee, Abdul Delaney, Isaac Hayden and Jared Bruce).
Hayden led the team in scoring last year with an average of 12 points per game, along with six rebounds and three steals. Harman will lead the team at point this year and will have to control the game.
Jared Bruce, according to Hunter, will need to shoot more in order for the team to be in each game. Abdul Delaney will be our best on ball defender, and he will help us with be the leader on this team. Bryon Lee will need to average at least seven to 10 rebounds a game.
“We are going to play hard and together all the time. We have some young guys that are really going to push these seniors for playing time and to make us better every day in practice–Jake Clemons, Trey Wilson, MJ Hunter, Matthew Collins, Caleb Henley, Chris Calloway, Clay Clatterbaugh and Ty Dunkleman. This team will surprise a lot of people this year,” Hunter said
In River Ridge District play, the Christiansburg coach feels Patrick Henry is loaded this year. “They (PH) have a couple of players that have transferred to the school that are going to make them the team to beat, and they have a good core of players returning so they guys with go a long way this year. Cave Spring also has a good group of young players along with Hidden Valley, Pulaski County and Blacksburg,” he said.
Terry Millirons enters his eighth year as the coach at Auburn High School after a rude greeting last season their first in the Mt. Empire District. The Eagles finished 4-18 in 2017-18 and only returns five players to this year’s squad.
“We are still young, starting one rreshman, three sophomores and one senior, but we have a lot of guys that understand the game and compete at a high level. We are currently 3-0 (two wins over Floyd, one win over Bland) with a couple of our key players out with injuries. Once we get all of our guys back on the court, we should be able to compete at a high level,” Millirons said.
Of course, that freshman is no stranger to the coach. He is Ethan Millirons who is currently averaging 26 points per game through three games.
In addition to the young guard, Auburn will also have to depend on sophomores Austin Ford (led the team in three-point percentage last season), Rusty Marshall (led the team in rebounds) and David Brotherton(eight points per game last year), all who saw considerable time last season.
Brady Harris and Carter Vance also return from last year’s team
Another key newcomer is Michael Royal, who is averaging seven points per game. Taylor Newcome is the lone senior.
At Eastern Montgomery, Josh Blevins is hoping a better basketball season from last year when the Mustangs were 0-23. Blevins is in his third year and has compiled a 10-36 overall record.
He does return senior guard Garrett East who averaged 11 points per game last season along with forward Cole Shepherd who had eight rebounds per game.
“I expect us to be much improved. Many of our players were pulled up mid-year last season so we are expecting that experience to help them compete in many games. Our size could also give some teams some issues with three post players over 6’4” and some long guards to go with them. It has been a challenge with building parts of the program, but with really good coaching from K.C. Schrader on the jayvee squad, things will start to turn around now that the program has started to come together.” Blevins said.
He thinks Covington will be the team to beat in Pioneer District play. “They lost some key players, but they had a very good jayvee team. I also think Narrows could also create some problems,” he said.
Blacksburg has yet to respond to questions on their basketball team as several players just recently completed the school’s football run into the state playoffs.
Holiday tournaments are abundant this season.
This year’s Chance Harman basketball classic at Floyd County High School is scheduled for January 4-5. Also, Roanoke College will be the site of the Roy Stanley Classic on January 19. The Adam Ward Class is set for February 1 at Salem High School.