Basketball is one of the biggest winter sports at Herrin High School and for good reason. Last season, the varsity team managed to have a 27-5 record with an undefeated home game record. The team was also EHT champions and Duquoin tournament champions. 

In order to be this good, the basketball team works year round doing workouts and drills to keep them on their A-Game. Most of the team mentioned that their favorite drill was 11-man, a quick 3-on-2 situation where at different “spots” they try to score points. 

Keegan Weber (12) and Tanner Hall (9) both mention how they also like the Geno drill which is essentially “full-court layups”. Getting everyone involved in drills gets the whole team communicating with each other and building stronger chemistry as a result. 

However, communicating off the court can be difficult when someone is sick or injured. One of the biggest concerns of Coach Shurtz this season was “getting everyone better and playing again”. 

X Williams (12) has been injured during the early season with an injured ankle; being on the sidelines “is not a good feeling”, but the most he can do is “at least help [his] team out and the people filling [his] spot”. 

After all of this practice, the team has truly grown together and has improved as a team and as individuals. 

Harper Shoemaker (10) compliments the defense of the team by saying “as fast as [the] team is, [they] play good defense and get the ball into transition”. 

Jon Harrison (12) also says that he “enjoys playing basketball” and believes that the team works hard because of one goal: to have fun. 

The year-round practice has also led the team to have ambitious goals for the season; they have opponents that they are excited to face and are prepared for the match-ups they will face this year. 

Kyrese Lukens (11) is excited for Carterville, because “it brings a lot of people”. Jaxton Faulkenberry (9), however, was the most excited for the Collinsville game on November 21st. 

The team this year was looking to face harder opponents from higher class levels with Collinsville being their first game. The score was 39 to 67 with an unfortunate loss by the Tigers, but the team is ready to get back on their feet and learn from this experience. 

Coach Shurtz is looking forward to “facing harder opponents to make the team overall better in the end”. 

With a rough start to the season, the boys basketball team is ready to taste victory and can only improve from this setback.