PRESTON PIRATES

BOYS

Coach: Chase Littlejohn

22-23 Record: 26-5

In three years, Chase Littlejohn has flipped the Preston basketball program upside down going from a 7-14 team three years ago that just barely made it to regionals to a team that last year made it to the state semifinals with a 26-5 record losing in a two-point contest to Oklahoma Christian Academy. And for the upcoming 2023 season he returns two key players off that state team to hopefully keep the momentum going for the Pirates.

Leading the way is Jervais Goree (5-9, Sr.), a two-time VYPE Top 100 pick, who averaged 16 points a game last year for Preston along with 3.5 assists. “Jervais has been our best player since he was a freshman. He’s averaging over 16 points a game for his career and has just over 1400 points during that time,” said Littlejohn. The other returning starter is Giorgio Dunn-Spencer (5-9, Sr.), a VYPE Top100 nominee, who averaged 12.5 points a game in 2022 along with 3.5 assists per game. “Giorgio transferred from Morris and played the second semester last year. We had a lot of scorers on the team last year, so he mostly facilitated, but I expect his point production to go way up this year and he’ll pass the 1,000-point mark sometime this season,” said Littlejohn. Some talented juniors will also dot the lineup for the Pirates with Tanner Young (5-11), Jayden Smith (6-3) and Ethan Moore (6-0) all looking to crack the starting five this year. Athletic sophomores Kent Rice (6-0) and Jermaine Bolden (6-2) will in all likelihood see some playing time this year. “Jermaine is a wild card for us this year. He is bigger and stronger with a lot of God-given athletic ability and athleticism. He has a good skill set and can also guard all five positions. If we can get him to click this year, we will be an even better team.” All in all, Littlejohn is optimistic that things will continue in the winning atmosphere that he has built in three years as the 2023 season looms. “We have a good mixture of veteran players that are four-year starters and players that are talented and waiting their turn. We graduated some good players but return some as well. We purposely play a tough schedule that will hopefully get us ready for state tournament competition.”