L-B brings back solid senior group

FINDLAY – Doug Whiteman enters his third season as Liberty-Benton head coach noticing some huge holes in his lineup. That's because the guys manning those spots – 6-foot-6 wing Jake Gerken and 6-8 post Tyler Grose – literally, were huge, both in stature and production.Gerken, a 1,000-point career scorer and all-Ohio selection, was the Blanchard Valley Conference Player of the Year after averaging 22.4 points, 6.1 rebounds and 2.3 assists. He's now playing for Charlie Ernst and the University of Findlay Grose averaged 11 points and 6.0 rebounds for the Eagles, who swept their way through the BVC (10-0) and went 21-3 overall.White welcomes back a solid senior group, though, that includes guards Reid Irwin and Brody Thomas and 6-6 wing Lincoln Holler.Holler nailed 30 3-point shots and was a first-team all-BVC selection after averaging 13.7 points a game. Irwin led L-B in assists (3.2 apg), and Thomas was a deadly outside shot with 24 3-pointers."Obviously it is next to impossible to simply replace guys like Jake Gerken and Tyler Grose, who did so much for our team and program," Whiteman said."But we have a group of guys who have worked incredibly hard in the offseason and are ready to carve their own path."Liberty-Benton led the league in scoring (59.7 ppg) last season and a look back at the BVC stats indicated why as the Eagles finished first among league schools in 2-point (.606), 3-point (.369) and free throw (.727) shooting. L-B also led the BVC in assists (13.6 apg).Whiteman will be counting on deep junior and sophomore classes to continue that trend. Luke Gerken and Cooper Conway head up the junior group that includes Jayden Hobbs, Nemo Arredondo and Nic Bloomfield.Sophomores Taden Troyer, Grady Latta, Trevor Gebhardt, Kooper Leatherman, Nolan Rioch and Boston Clum are in the mix for varsity time as well.