Coach Carey?
  

    After the warm up, Coach McKay came out and introduced the managers, coaches, and team. He started with the freshmen; #25 Justin Benson, #23 Lenny Miles, #35 Sean Phaler, #20 Ryan Wall, and #1 Kellen Walter. The sophomores are all returners: #13 David Chiotti, #22 Jeff Hart, #34 Mikal Monette, and #0 Mark Walters. The juniors were all transfers; #2 Troy Devries, #5 Collins Ferris, #33 Danny Granger,  and #21 Alfred Neale. And the two returning seniors are #11 Javin Tindall and #12 Ryan Ashcraft.
  

    In the scrimmage, the Cherry team jumped out to an early lead with Troy Devries scoring first and David Chiotti following up with an awesome 3 pointer. Mark Walters played with a brace on his left knee. Walters had surgery on his ACL last spring and has made an amazingly fast recovery. Great job Mark!

    The Silver team was quick to catch up but still could not claim the victory. The score when the buzzer rang was Cherry 34 Silver 27. The entire team played a great game and I am even more excited to see them play this season than I was before! Way to go guys!

    Senior Captain Ryan Ashcraft did not play in the scrimmage due to an ankle injury. As you may recall Ashcraft injured his ankle last season but continued to play on it all season. After the season was over doctors discovered that the ankle was worse than originally thought and required surgery. Ryan has been working really hard to recover from his injuries and will hopefully be 100% really soon! Can’t wait to see you out there Ryan! Keep up the good work!

    After the scrimmage, fans helped to film a commercial for the basketball team and several members of the team participated in a slam-dunk contest. Ryan Wall, Justin Benson, Mikal Monette, David Chiotti, Alfred Neale, Danny Granger, and Javin Tindall all showed off their awesome slam-dunk moves. The crowd determined the winner by their applause and cheers and the contest came down to David Chiotti and Alfred Neale but in the end Alfred Neale was victorious. Everyone was awesome. 
 

 Hard to believe Ryan is already a senior. Here is a pic when he was a soph.

    At the end of the exhibition, Ryan Ashcraft said a few words to the crowd of fans. He said, “I’d just like to thank all of you fans. I think we’re going to have a special year. Let’s make it as loud in here as it was when I was a kid. Thanks!”  I have to agree with
Ryan on this one, after seeing this team, I think it is going to be a great year and I can’t wait to see these guys in action. And I too hope that it is as loud in the Pit this year as it was when I was a kid.