McIntire gone, but Raiders return experienced squad
Waynesburg Central’s Jimmy Straight (20) defends against Belle Vernon in a game last season. Straight is one of four seniors on the Raiders’ roster for 2018-19.
Waynesburg Central boys basketball coach Kirk King
Waynesburg High School will move forward without its all-time leading scorer this season as Darton McIntire has graduated.
Despite that loss, the Raiders have plenty of experience coming back.
“We have a good core group returning,” fourth-year coach Kirk King said. “Of course you don’t replace a Darton McIntire. That’s really a player who comes along every 10 to 15 years or so. He’s the school record holder in points and he only played three years. He averaged 25, 26 points a game over his career here.
“What you have to do is you have to rely on an entire team concept as far as guys making the difference up not just in points but in rebounding and leadership.
“And we definitely have that.”
King has six returning lettermen to try to help make that happen.
“I have four seniors and six juniors on my varsity squad,” King said. “That’s a nice group of upperclassmen, and they’ve all played a lot of minutes for me the last two years.”
Lucas Garber is Waynesburg’s top returning scorer. He had 26 points in a five-point loss to McGuffey in Saturday’s championship game of the Highlanders tournament to fall to 1-1.
“Lucas is a 6-2 junior guard-forward and he’s been a captain the last two years so that shows you his leadership,” King said. “He’s a quiet leader but he definitely plays very hard.”
King has Garber slotted in as one of his five starters along with Richard Bortz and Jimmy Straight.
“Richard is going to be my starting point guard. He’s a 5-10 junior who started a lot of games last year,” King said. “Jimmy is a senior who has started for me since his freshman year. He’s a 5-10 guard who has a ton of experience.
“Also I have Collin Rose, a 6-3 senior, who has started a lot of games the last two years.”
King has several other players who will be in the mix for playing time and starting assignments, including his son, junior forward Chris King.
“I do look for Chris to do some big things this year,” Kirk King said. “I think he’s ready to break out. He played some minutes as a sophomore but not as many minutes as the others. But he’s also grown six inches in the last year and a half so he’s 6-5 now.”
Others who should see plenty of court action, according to King, are seniors Kullen Thorne and Garrett Gumbarevic, and juniors Avery McConville, Caleb Shriver and Dalton Watson.
“Avery is 6-2 and played a ton of minutes the last two years, and Dalton is a 6-0 guard who has played minutes in the past, too,” King said. “Caleb, a 5-10 guard who is the starting quarterback on the football team, is just a good all-around athlete. He’s going to play a lot for us.
“Kullen is a 5-10 senior guard who is a good left-handed shooter who is going to play a lot of minutes. Gumbarevic played in our program in the past but he had a knee injury a couple years ago. He’s 6-5 with a long wingspan.”
King feel comfortable going into battle with the group he has.
“I have 10 deep that have all played minutes,” he said. “Our starting lineup may look different at different times, depending on who we’re playing. They’re all going to play a key role and they know that.”
Even without McIntire, King is confident his team can contend for a playoff spot.
“We struggled the last couple years but that’s in the past,” King said. “Now I’ve got a junior-senior group that has a ton of experience so I’m looking forward to seeing good things from them this year.”
The Raiders are again in Section 3-AAAA, but the teams have changed slightly. South Fayette, Keystone Oaks and McGuffey have left with Ringgold coming in to join Uniontown, Belle Vernon, Elizabeth Forward and South Park.
“It will be a strong section again,” King said. “Belle Vernon won it last year. Uniontown made a strong showing in the playoffs and they’re always good. South Park is always solid and competitive, and so is Elizabeth Forward. I don’t know a lot about Ringgold but I’m sure they will be competitive. They’ve got great coaches there. I mean Phil Pergola, you don’t need to say anything else.”
King, who was an assistant coach for two years before taking over the head coaching job in 2015, will be assisted by Ryan Hurd for the fourth straight year. King also has a trio of volunteer assistants in Ty Negley, Corey Dispenza and Chris Harmon.