“After last year, we were devastated how the season turned out so we were really hungry to make some noise this year,” Koning said. “We’re still hungry.”
The Indians are off to a 6-1 start for the second straight season. They’re averaging an Ohio Heritage Conferece-best 65.0 points per game.
“I’ve been really proud of our guys,” said Indians coach Ryan Godlove. “I think last year they saw the potential that we have coming back and it made them hungry this offseason. It was a different offseason than what we’re used to, but they knew this could be a big opportunity for us this year. They put a lot of time in on their own this offseason. It’s shown for us.”
They’re 3-1 in the Ohio Heritage Conference South Division after falling to Northeastern 60-56 on Tuesday night.
“We’re right on track, it just stinks that we lost,” Koning said. “We know it’s not going to be handed to us. We’ve got to look at the rest of the season like we’ve got to earn it in every practice and every game. Every possession we’ve got to focus on making plays.”
The Indians are led by five senior starters — Koning (15.7 points, 4.3 assists per game), Isaiah Ramey (15.2 points, 7.0 rebounds pg), Payton Herron, Hunter Baldwin and Caleb McKinion. They’ve all played basketball together since seventh grade.
“We’re always looking for each other and we like to see each other score,” Koning said. “Basketball is really fun with these guys. We’ve got great chemistry.”
Junior Hayden Hanson (6-foot-8) and sophomore Drew Koning have also stepped up big this season.
“We feel like we’ve got five guys on the floor that can score at any moment,” Godlove said. “I think that’s really helped us. Our ball movement has been great. We’ve had different guys stepping up each night.”
The Indians finished 20-6 last season, but finished second in the division, one-game back of rival Greeneview. Cedarville is seeking its first league championship since 2006.
“It’s been awhile,” Godlove said. “The guys are hungry. They see that and they know that. They’d love to bring that back to our community but we know there’s a lot of good teams in our league to compete with to earn that league title.”
They’re hoping last year’s district final experience against Jackson Center will propel them in close games this season.
“It was a tight game and they were a really good team,” Trent Koning said. “It was just going to come down to who was going to make plays. We weren’t intimidated, but we hadn’t been put in positions where we had to make a play every time we had the ball. I feel like this year we’ve got different guys to go to to make a play and that really helps out.”
It also gave them a sense of how good they can be, Godlove said.
“We know that the Shelby County and MAC are extremely competitive leagues and we don’t get the opportunity to play those guys very often, For us to get the opportunity to play with a team like Jackson Center and to be able to be in a close game with them gave our guys a lot of confidence that we’re doing the right things. It pushed us in the offseason to keep getting better so we can compete with those teams.”
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