With the high school football season behind them, Blythewood fans are now geared up for the start of the 2012-2013 high school basketball season. The boys’ team has a new head coach in Zeke Washington. Washington spent the previous five years at Lower Richland and led them to the state semifinals in the past three seasons. The new head coach looks forward to bringing that type of success to Bengals basketball.
“Every game is going to be key for us,” Washington said. “We don’t have a lot of experience, so every game is about building a program.”
Blythewood has never won a playoff game since moving up to 4A and they’re coming off an eight-win season in which they failed to make the playoff cut. A high point for the Bengals last season was when they won the Midas Highlander Classic tournament (at Heathwood Hall). Washington hopes to jump-start Bengals basketball with an up-tempo offense followed by a pressure defense.
“We can neutralize size if we can make it a full-court game,” Washington said.
Blythewood will look to be in transition as much as possible since that they could have as many as five guards on the floor at any time. The only letterman returning for Blythewood is junior Kenneth McCray. Other players believed to make an impact are seniors Kevin Crawford, David Bell and Tyler Bowers.
Region games are key for Blythewood and those will begin in the 2013 part of schedule with a Jan. 4 home game against Irmo. Washington has high hopes for the upcoming season.
“With the talent we have, the sky is the limit,” Washington said. “It’s just a matter of the players buying into the system.”
If Monday night was any indicator, the ‘buying in’ has already begun for the Bengal boys this season.
The Blythewood boys’ basketball team (1-0) tipped off the 2012-2013 season with a 64-59 win over Northwestern (0-1) on Monday night. The Bengals were led in scoring by David Bell and Kevin Crawford with 18 and 16 respectively. Kenneth McCray chipped in 9. Blythewood’s next contest is on Nov. 27 when they host Lancaster at 6:30 p.m.