The playing field for the River View boy’s basketball team is not exactly easy. Travel to games can be long and the Raiders play in easily the toughest region in Class A.
Saddled with sectional foes like Greater Beckley Christian, James Monroe and Mount View, making a trip to the state tournament this year will be a daunting task.
The good news for head coach, Roger Hale, now in his 26th season, is he will open the season with one of his more experienced groups.
“I have five seniors that I have known for a lot of years. They will be the key members in our seven-man rotation this year along with two juniors,” Hale said.
Senior Daniels Dobbs is the go-to scorer for River View according to Hale. Dobbs has started since his sophomore season and also played a lot of minutes as a freshman.
“Daniel is a walking double-double and scored right around 18 points per game last year,” Hale said.
Peyton Hale is the coaches son and he has been a two-year starter for the Raiders. The younger Hale will play the point guard position, as well as the shooting guard spot in his senior season.
“Connor Christian is a four year member that will play some forward and off-guard and Malek Woodson will play the same as Connor,” Hale said.
Senior Jacob Adkins will fill the middle again this season for the Raiders. Adkins did not start last year, but played big minutes according to his coach.
“We are long, but we don’t have the speed that I thought we might have this year,” Hale admitted. “Jacob is 6-foot-3, but he has a wingspan of someone about 6-foot-8.”
The Raiders also have a sophomore, Ethan Justice that just started playing basketball in eighth grade. Justice stands 6-foot-9 and will see some spot duty on varsity, but Hale feels he still has a ways to go yet.
“Ethan will come along and help us in the future,” Hale said.
Joshua Profitt and Tyler Cooper are the two juniors that will be interchangeable with the five seniors.
“Josh is probably one of our most athletic kids on the whole team. He is definitely our high flyer and he shoots the ball really well from outside,” Hale said.
While many teams look to push the ball up and down the floor, River View will have more of a methodical approach this season.
“We just can’t cut things loose and run. We will have to play at our pace and run our sets. With the continuity that we have, this team should run it’s sets better than any team that I have had,” Hale said.
While Hale will likely stick with a seven-man rotation, he does have some younger players that have peeked his interest.
“Kaiden Newberry is such a great athlete for a freshman,” Hale said. “Sophomore Gabe Lester will dress varsity also. He is really shooting the ball well and might be our best pure shooter.”
Fielding one of his best teams, the question becomes, can the Raiders win enough games to get to Charleston?
“I think we have a good opportunity this year with all of this experience,” Hale said. “Defensively is where we may lack this year, but floor size, we should match up with anybody this year.”
