WAKEFIELD – The Wakefield Trojan boys basketball team ended a 12-year drought of state tournament basketball after posting a 20-win season and a berth in the Class C2 state tourney.
Wakefield suffered a first round defeat the eventual fourth-place team of Centennial (56-48) ending their season at 20-4. After going 2-1 in the Lewis & Clark Conference Tournament, the Trojans won their final six games on the road at the end of the regular season.
Coach Joe Wendte will return as the head coach for his sixth season at Wakefield. Coach Wendte said the team has been up and down the past couple weeks.
“We return a lot of talent, a lot of experience from the last couple of years,” said Wendte. “I’m exciting to see how these younger guys that we’ve had the past few years can take on a leadership role and be leaders on this year’s team.”
Assisting coach Wendte will be Austin Galles, Mike Clay and Jon Thomas.
Wakefield lost three seniors, being two starters and their sixth-man but return six seniors to go along with four juniors, one sophomore and one freshman on the varsity roster.
The team improved on their 13-11 record from two seasons ago.
Coach Wendte added they’ll again look to beat teams on the defensive end.
“Get good shots on the offensive end with some post plays and some inside-out-looks around the three-point line,” Wendte added. “But just refining those skills, just trying to get players in good positions to succeed.”
The Wakefield boys basketball team will start their season with back-to-back home games. The Trojans will first host Pender on Thursday, December 5 before entertaining the Allen boys on Friday, December 6.
Both games will be carried on Big Red Country ‘KTCH’ 104.9 and waynedailynews.com with Thursday’s game following the girls contest between Wakefield-Allen and Pender while Friday’s pregame will start around 6:45 p.m. or following the JV contest.
Other games leading up to the Shootout on the Elkhorn hosted by Wisner-Pilger in late December will be a road contest at Hartington-Newcastle on Tuesday, December 10; home game vs. Omaha Nation on Friday, December 13 as well as road outings with Randolph and Stanton on Tuesday, December 17 and Friday, December 20.