Strides forward made with 3 underclassmen starting

By Kyle Troutman [email protected]

Experience gained and improvements made over the course of the season have the Wheaton basketball program looking forward with confidence.

Sean Crane, Wheaton boys basketball coach, said the Bulldogs put together a 12-15 campaign, learning a lot along the way.

“We made huge improvements this season,” he said. “We played lots of young players that improved throughout the season, and the team improved in all aspects. Experience, though, will be most beneficial improvement. We need to improve defensively going forward.”

Crane said three underclassmen started for Wheaton, which put together back-to-back wins three times — including a 63-61 overtime win over Golden City — as well as one three-game streak, besting Thomas Jefferson, Northeast Vernon County and Hurley in mid-January.

Crane said looking back on the campaign, the first win in the three-game streak was a big one.

“Our win at Thomas Jefferson was huge win in our conference and program builder,” he said.

Helping build that program this year was senior Richard Hnin.

“Richard was huge influence for us and battled through injuries this season,” Crane said. “He was very important to our programs improvements.”

Underclassmen, Crane said, will be key in 2027.

“They will continue to be a huge influence as we started three underclassmen on varsity this past season,” he said. “Injuries and sickness hurt the end of our season, but our season as a whole was a huge success. We expect and want to continue improvement for next season.”

Crane said the goals are already set to compete for district and conference titles.

The Bulldogs’ season came to a close at the hands of neighbor Exeter, a 59-56 loss in the Class 2, District 12 tournament.