South Eugene boys basketball counting on infusion of talent from JV team to sustain momentum

By René Ferrán

Over the next two weeks, SBLive Oregon will break down more than 100 Oregon high school basketball teams. Here’s our look at the South Eugene Axe boys of the Class 6A Southwest Conference.

Dave Hancock photo by Leon Neuschwander

SOUTH EUGENE TEAM PAGE

HEAD COACH

Dave Hancock, 21st season (301-206)

2019-20 AT A GLANCE

Overall record: 21-6

League record: 9-1, first in Southwest

Playoffs: Beat Sunset 82-62 in first round; lost 75-57 to Lake Oswego in second round

ALL-LEAGUE PLAYERS DEPARTED

G Sam Harris, co-player of the year

F Josh Paul, first team

F Aidan Clark, first team

F Bryce Boettcher, second team

PLAYERS TO WATCH

G Jarrett Bryant, Sr., 6-4

The lone starter returning from last year’s conference champion, Bryant averaged 6.4 points and 4.3 rebounds per game while shooting nearly 53 percent from the field last season, earning all-Southwest honorable mention. “He has improved greatly from the end of last year,” Hancock said.

F Solomon Nice, So., 6-4

Nice was a JV starter last season who played in four games on the varsity. He’ll be counted upon to move into the starting lineup this spring.

G Luca Beshkov, Sr., 6-1

Beshkov is a Bulgarian native who moved to the Eugene area last summer and transferred to South Eugene this school year.

OUTLOOK

The Axe last season notched 21 victories and won the Energy Classic title in Gillette, Wyo., but even as a conference champion, they didn’t get a top-eight seed in the state playoffs, and their season ended with a disappointing loss at Lake Oswego in the second round.

They now need to replace four graduated all-league players — led by conference co-player of the year Harris, who walked on at Cal-Berkeley this season — who combined to score 51 of the team’s 63 points per game.

With Bryant the only returning player who received significant playing time last season, Hancock said, “we really don’t have anything to actually hang our identity on yet.” They’ll be counting on the improvement of JV players such as Nice and juniors Blake Sabbato and Zane Fahl to sustain their momentum.

COACH SAID

“We’re very young, but we have a good group of juniors who played a lot last year at the JV level. Many would overlook us because of this, but with some senior leadership, especially from Bryant, we would be a team that improves throughout the season.” — Dave Hancock