BY ANDY TAYLOR
Montgomery County Chronicle

CHERRYVALE — The Cherryvale High School men’s basketball team will open its 2008-09 season with a strong corps of returning players who have high hopes of clinging to the top rung of the Tri-Valley League ladder.

Cherryvale opens the basketball campaign on Friday, Dec. 5, with a home bout against the Burlington Wildcats.

Leading the Chargers will be a trio of returning starters, all of whom are seniors. Guard Dennon Windsor will return to the lineup after averaging eight points per game during his junior campaign. Windsor, 5-foot-9, was sidelined for most of the football season due to injuries, however CHS head basketball coach Jim Blaes said Windsor appears to now be playing at 100 percent despite several months away from the athletic circuit.

Windsor was an all-league selection choice last year while classmate Brandon Blackburn, 6-foot-2, garnered honorable mention status at the guard position. Blackburn averaged eight points per game last year and canned 40 percent of his three-point attempts.

The third senior starter on the team is Chance Baker, a 6-foot-2 forward who averaged seven points and five rebounds per game last year.

Other returning lettermen to the Charger squad are seniors Ryan Studebaker, a 6-foot-0 guard, and Justin Lane, a 5-foot-9 guard. Dillon Blake, a 6-foot-0 junior, will be a dominant presence in the forward position.

Blaes will have about five underclassmen to get game time during the season. They include juniors Roman Lopez, Shane Hammer, Cory Blaes and Josh Doncouse as well as sophomore Micah Booe.

Blaes said the greatest strength of this year’s team was the balance exhibited by the varsity squad.

“We really don’t have one top player,” said Blaes, now in his 16th season at the Charger helm. “We should have about 10 players who can play at the varsity level. This could be nice for us in the fact that a team has to prepare for playing a bunch of players . . . and any of them on a given night could get hot. Playing a lot of players could provide exciting.”

One of the team’s obvious weaknesses is the lack of height. Cherryvale’s tallest players are Blackburn, Baker and Booe, who will have to stretch their 6-foot-2 frames to battle taller foes throughout the season.

“Because we’re not a big team, we’re going to need to develop better outside shooting to open up the inside game more,” said Blaes. “With little size, blocking out on the boards is important.”