19-20 First Look: Mound-Westonka
The build of the Mound-Westonka White Hawks continues. For the second straight year the Hawks improved by seven wins building to a 20 victory season. So what’s next? Moving On: Mound-Westonka only had one senior in their regular rotation last…
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Continue ReadingThe build of the Mound-Westonka White Hawks continues. For the second straight year the Hawks improved by seven wins building to a 20 victory season. So what’s next?
Moving On: Mound-Westonka only had one senior in their regular rotation last year. Guard Nicolas Phommahaxay was a good player but the loss of a single guy is a lot less to overcome than 97 percent of the teams out there.
Returning Starters: The Whitehawks have four starters returning. The top two players on the team were often Jameson Sexton and Jason Speath. Sexton is a six foot guard that scored 15 a game while Speath is a strong and skilled 6-foot-2 sophomore that I would expect will play some wing on this smaller team. Speath had a good 15u season with D1 Minnesota Prospects and he scored 10.4 a contest last year as a freshman. Speath didn’t start much last year but played big minutes so we are just going to keep him with this group.
The beauty of the Whitehawks is their depth of working parts. Six-foot-6 Connor Prok is crucial to the team as he was the only player on the team bigger than 6-foot-2 last season. Prok scored 3-4 times a game and this year they may need him to be a 10/7 a game guy as a senior. Stepping into the Nicolas Phommahaxay role will likely be junior Santiago Phommahaxay, a 5-foot-8 guard that scored three times a game as an underclassmen.
The other returning starter is Logan Leonard, a 6-foot-2, 175 pound forward that like Santiago was on the floor to begin the game as a sophomore. Leonard scored 4.6 a contest and is currently a do everything player for the football team running the ball, catching passes, returning kids, and playing d-back. He plays a vital role to the team simply as a tough competitor.
Reserves Playing a Bigger Role: Calvin MacKall is a 6-foot-2, 165 pound forward who is now a senior and he and fellow senior post Isaiah Dempsey will provide frontcourt depth. I don’t know that the role they are playing will be much bigger as the only players that Mound-Westonka lost to graduation were guards but another year of experience will help both players. Dempsey is a 6-foot-2, 225 pound interior lineman type. Both MacKall and Dempsey bring toughness from the bench.
Potentials from the JV: The one other guy to see a bit of time a year ago was now six foot junior guard Jamel Broadway. His 2018-19 was spent on the bench but with Thomas Miller and the older Phommahaxay graduated there could be room for Jamel or others to earn some time.
New to Town: The Mound-Westonka backcourt became deeper when Jayden Heimerman moved from Watertown-Mayer to the Whitehawks district. Jayden is a six-foot-1 guard that scored 11 a game last year as a junior.