The Beaver Area boys basketball team is getting ready to dribble into the 2018-19 season.

The team hits the court without six graduating seniors from last year: Bryce Ramer, Nik Rowse, Nick Hacko, Tyler Wallace, Isaiah Sly, and Deante Alexander.

Not only did the team lose some key players, they also gained a new head coach, Greg Cercone.

Despite the changes the team has several returning seniors: Mike Champ, Brodie List, Peter Kazas, Mason Rose, and Noah Brassell.

They will be tipping off against many of the same teams, except for Beaver Falls, as last season. The team will continue to compete in quad-A facing teams like South Fayette, Ambridge, and New Castle.

“We have a very similar schedule to last year and we are ready to put the pieces together and show everyone that our horrible record last year was a fluke,” said List.

Tipping off their season over the weekend, December 7 and 8, at the Neshannock Tip-off tournament, they played a few scrimmages to get some experience playing as a team.

However, initial team experiences began November 26 when the team went to Sewickley Academy to compete in some mini practice games against Riverside and Sewickley Academy to get warmed up.

Other practice play came December 4 when the McGuffey boys team traveled to Beaver Area High School to take on the Beaver Bobcats in one last scrimmage before the season officially started.

These scrimmages were all about practice, so scores aren’t recorded. Also, the mini-games last only around 10 minutes thereby allowing multiple lineup variations to get playing experience.

“We have the talent to win; if we play hard and play as a unit we should be a playoff team,” predicted point guard Kazas.