Oak Harbor boys look to rebuild

The Rockets, who showed promised at a number of times during the season, struggled to a 3-18 finish. However, they have four of their top players returning and the understanding that their coach is invested in turning things around. For a 10-year run starting in 2003, Oak Harbor had five different head coaches and the program struggled mightily.

But Sweet, who is committed to seeing this thing through, is confident that team has better days ahead.

Point guards A.J. Cecil and Greg Haar, the team’s top-two scorers from last season, are back, as are wing Austin Wiegand and post Sam Laderach.

“Those four guys as a core are good to build around,” Sweet said. “I don’t think either (A.J or Greg) is a true point guard; they both feel comfortable running the point. They form a nice tag-team in the backcourt.”

The Rockets must replace five seniors from last year’s squad, but do return much of their production. Last season, Cecil, Haar and Laderach shot well from beyond the 3-point line, keeping Oak Harbor in a number of games with their shooting. And Wiegand’s versatility helped to diversify the offense.

Rounding out the rotation will be wings Tate Haar, Derek Wood, Andy Rathbun and posts Josh Sarahman and Ben Cochran with Cole Wierich, Bryce Rubie and Andrew Benner possibly seeing some action as well.

“(Playing) eight guys is what I envision,” Sweet said. “If these guys make me play nine or 10, then I’ll play them. I’m looking at eight, but I’ll adjust to what I get. I might go nine-deep or 10-deep.”

More than anything, Oak Harbor’s success will hinge on two things: (1) playing good defense; and (2) consistently hitting three-point shots.

“We’re going to shoot a lot of threes. A.J and Greg like shooting the threes. If you look at some of the games where we fell apart, we played poor defense and we missed threes.”

Oak Harbor Boys Basketball Schedule

** All start times indicate the start of the freshman game followed by the JV and varsity contests unless otherwise noted.