Park Hill South senior point guard Colby Kiedrowski is a returning starter looking to take on a larger role this year.
PARKVILLE – Being conditioned is going to be vital this season for the Park Hill South boys’ basketball team as the Panthers will rely heavily on six guys.
Having graduated three starters from last year – which includes two of the three leading scorers and the top outside shooter – Park Hill South will look relatively different this upcoming season. Although there are some returners who were big pieces in 2022, the Panthers will have more inexperience than in years past.
“The senior group has kind of grown up together so most of them played freshman and JV together, so they know each other really well,” Park Hill South head boys’ basketball coach Danny Parra said. “It’s just that the level of competition is going to be a step higher than what they’re used to early on.”
Junior point guard Colby Kiedrowski was a starter last year, averaging 8.6 points while shooting 36.2 percent from downtown and 75.7 percent from the charity stripe. Kiedrowski is set to lead the offense and see a lot of time on the court for the Panthers and Damon Stacker will be the backup point guard as needed.
“Colby’s going to play every minute of every game as long as he can, so we’ve got to keep him healthy. He’s our floor general, he’s our guy and if not him, it’s Damon who is kind of the other Alpha,” Parra said.
Seniors Michael Good and Keegan Feder, along with junior Cooper Oathout, will make up the rest of the core group for Park Hill South. Good was the only one of those three that saw some real action last year, scoring 39 total points and shooting 11-of-29 from deep.
“Michael is a good shooter who was a varsity kid last year who came off the bench for us. Keegan’s a guy that we’ve been kind of counting on but has always been hurt. Last year he got hurt and then got a sickness that kept him out for about a month so he was always behind, but he’s a kid we can count on,” Parra said.
Park Hill South has seven seniors, including Zeshaun Balance, Aaron Clarke and Bak Bona. Sophomore Carson Bjorn wasn’t on varsity as a freshman, but he is looking to change that as a 6’6 sophomore who is arguably the best passer on the squad.
“The expectation is to win and that’s where we’re at so we can’t lower expectations just because we’ve got a different kind of team. We’ve bought into coming into the season in shape. We have mainly all seniors, one junior and one sophomore and those guys have bought into the conditioning part since August,” Parra said.