The school is empty and quiet, but there is a faint noise coming from the gym, the squeaking of sneakers and the bouncing of a ball.

The boys basketball team has been working overtime to win more games this year. Last year was the first year with the new coaching staff, but this year, the boys have something to prove. They have been working in the offseason ‒ on the court, in the weight room and in the classroom ‒ all in an effort to find success on the courts.

The warriors have had some success so far. The boys have won three straight against Columbia, Northeastern and Northern Lebanon. Forward Landon Kleiman and guards Jammarr Hemmeain and Kaden Richardson have been the leading scorers for the Warriors to open up the season.

The boys struggled last year, finishing with a record of 7-15, and are hoping for this year to be different, despite a current 3-7 record.

With a new team, new coaches and a new mindset, the Warriors expect to play at a much higher level.

Senior Kaden Richardson feels the team has prepared well for the season.

“Our team has been preparing since February,” Richardson said. “And we’ve been having open gyms, different tournaments all around, and have played against older players as well to test our abilities against them.”

Assistant coach Tom Laure thinks this team can have a breakout season and make big steps for years ahead.

“We have high expectations for this season,” Laure said. “We feel we have better balance within our team. We have better depth as far as how many guys we feel can contribute based on their skill development. And schematically, we are ahead of where we were last year, so again, it’ll be interesting to see how that translates.”

Senior Jammarr Hemmeian thinks can work together well to succeed on the court

“I would say all of us make a difference,” Hennmeian said. “Each game, you’re going to have different top players who are able to help carry the team.”

The team’s overall chemistry will help drive the Warriors to success.

“I expect the team chemistry to work really well,” Richardson said. “I think because of all the workouts and things that we did over the summer, it helped us come together quicker than how it would’ve taken us if we only started this Friday for tryouts, trying to get everything together, since our first game is in a month. So us having all that stuff over the summer puts us ahead of a lot of other teams.”

Laure is excited to watch his team succeed because of the team chemistry, and has high expectations for the season.

“Just watching them succeed is exciting for me,” Laure said. “This particular group of seniors have not had a winning record throughout their high school experience and up through varsity- again expectations are high for the season.”