Wyoming East hoped to replicate its 2022 success last season with a spot in Charleston. Instead the Warriors fell to Bluefield in the sectional championship and later Chapmanville in the regional round. Both of those teams went on to play in the Class AA semifinals with Chapmanville winning the state title.
The Warriors return this season, having lost a few players from last year’s squad including leading scorer Garrett Mitchell and complementary players Jackson Danielson and Jacob Howard.
But they retained their floor general in Cole Lambert, a three-year starter who will lead the way this season. He’s not alone as the Warriors do have some other experienced pieces as well as some talented newcomers that should help early.
“He’s gonna be what makes us go and he’s improved his scoring at every level,” Head coach Derek Brooks said. “He can score it at all three levels. Now he can hit that outside shot and he can hit the (mid-range) and he can get always in the bucket if needed. He’s just an all around great player. Some other guys, Bryson Huff is a returning starter I have to get more from him this year. Braxton Morgan is returning sophomore that got a few minutes last year and he’s gonna have to do some scoring. He’s gonna have to be big for us this year as well. In the other slots are Zach Hunt and he had a couple of big games shooting last year. He’s gonna be the shooter probably on the squad this year. For freshmen we have Konnor Fox, a 6-foot-7 freshman and he’s a big kid. I think he’ll have a pretty good year for us to just rebound the ball and finish around the basket and he’s only going to get better.”
A proud program, the goal hasn’t changed for the Warriors. They want to not only get to Charleston but win a state championship, the program’s first since 2008.
“It’s the same as every year,” Brooks said. “I mean, what’s the point of playing if you’re not trying to win a title? A lot of people just try to play to get to Charleston and that’s nice and all but we try to play to win. That’s just what you play for. So of course that’s the goal every year going in. Our region is always a gauntlet. I mean we usually have three of the top five teams in the state right here in our region, sometimes four. I mean, I think you can put us in that conversation as a top four or five team in the state with Bluefield and of course, Chapmanville. But it’s just a gauntlet for us because we have to beat one or the other to make. So it’s kind of tough when those teams have been waiting for us the last few years. We’re a top five in those years too, and we still struggle to get there just because we have to go through those two to make it so hopefully this year we can push through and get that monkey off our back and get back again.”
While younger, East has been one of the area teams that’s surprised coaches through summer and fall leagues despite the losses suffered. For Brooks it comes from continuity.
The age groups are spread out but they have experience playing with one another which should help throughout the season.
“They just play well together,” Brooks said. “These guys are all buddies. I mean, even after practice, we’re sitting in the locker room in my office watching basketball. We pull up the Apple TV and start watching some games and these guys, they’re all buddies. They’ll stay 30 or 40 minutes after practice every day and just kind of hang out. They go home and hang out with one another or playing video games on another. So it’s a it’s just a good team. These guys have built a lot of camaraderie over the years. Most of these guys are from Pineville. They all played together growing up in middle school. This group has been together for a long time. And I just think it’s probably, except for my first year, this group has probably gelled better together than any other group I’ve had.”
