MATTAWA — The defending South Central Athletic Conference (East) league champion Wahluke Warriors will hit the court with some new faces in key roles this fall.

Wahluke clinched last year’s league title with a two-point win over Royal in the regular season finale but lost three all-league players to graduation.

“I think it’s inspiration to the team I have this year,” Wahluke coach Clayton Buck said. “We talked about it at the beginning of the season, I think from top to bottom we’ve got a good group of guys, and I think we will make a run for it again.”

Headlining the graduates is Orlando Nunez, who received first-team and player-of-the-year honors from the SCAC. Also graduating were Christian Madrigal and Brayan Calvario, who received second-team and honorable mention nods, respectively.

“(It’s) tough,” Buck said. “You lose Orlando (Nunez) who’s kind of your big dog, that’s hard to replace. A tough guard that’s a ball handler, brought the ball down when we needed it, and then my big guy was a rim protector.”

Returning this season are all-league players junior River Buck and senior Andrew Yorgesen, who Clayton Buck said have been bringing along the younger Warriors throughout the first two weeks of practices.

“It’s always nice to have that competitiveness back and the starters back, I think some of the younger guys – the guys that are learning to step up – are feeding off of them in practice right now,” Buck said. “Always a blessing to have starters back.”

Wahluke finished last season with a 13-10 record, earning a No. 1 seed out of the east in the SCAC district tournament. The Warriors opened the tournament with a loss to Naches Valley and responded with a win over Connell, but lost to La Salle in a loser-out game to miss the 1A state tournament.

Getting a look at the league title trophy can be a motivating factor to repeat those wins.

“The boys are showing up and trying to show that they compete and win like last year’s team,” Buck said. “... The AD was able to bring the trophy to the boys and show them, and I think ever since then they’ve really kicked it up a notch to try and win another.”

Wahluke opened the season Saturday against White Swan, but results were not available in time for press deadline. The Warriors return to the court Friday against Quincy at 7:30 p.m.

“I hope to see hard work, stay competitive, get better every game, focus on the good things and learn from the bad things,” Buck said. 

Ian Bivona may be reached at ibivona@columbiabasinherald.com.

Wahluke Boys Basketball Schedule

Nov. 25 — vs. White Swan — 3 p.m.

Dec. 1 — vs. Quincy — 7:30 p.m.

Dec. 2 — @ Yakama Nation Tribal — 7:30 p.m.

Dec. 4 — @ White Swan — 7:30 p.m.

Dec. 7 — vs. Ephrata — 7:30 p.m.

Dec. 15 — vs. Connell — 7:30 p.m.

Dec. 16 — vs. La Salle — 7:30 p.m.

Dec. 28 — @ Granger Christmas Classic Tournament — 3 p.m.

Jan. 2 — @ Toppenish — 7:30 p.m.

Jan. 5 — @ College Place — 7:30 p.m.

Jan. 6 — @ Naches Valley — 7:30 p.m.

Jan. 9 — vs. Kiona-Benton — 7:30 p.m.

Jan. 12 — vs. Royal — 7:30 p.m.

Jan. 16 — @ Connell — 7:30 p.m.

Jan. 19 — vs. Toppenish — 7:30 p.m.

Jan. 20 — vs. Wapato — 7:30 p.m.

Jan. 23 — @ Zillah — 7:30 p.m.

Jan. 26 — vs. College Place — 7:30 p.m.

Jan. 30 — @ Kiona-Benton — 7:30 p.m.

Feb. 2 — @ Royal — 7:30 p.m.

    Wahluke junior River Buck (22) looks for an opportunity to take a shot against Naches Valley.
  

    Wahluke had three seniors graduate who received all-league honors, including the South Central Athletic Conference (East) Player of the Year Orlando Nunez.