EDWARDSVILLE – The boys’ basketball team at Granite City High School will return nine seniors and a wealth of experience as the Warriors prepare to embark on its 2023-24 campaign this November.
Granite, who finished at 16-15 last season, was one of the teams that competed in the recent Edwardsville NCAA Live showcase event at Lucco-Jackson Gym and Liberty Middle School. Although it’s often difficult to assemble a full team to play during the summer season, the Warriors played well against four tough teams.
“You know, it’s summertime and in summertime, we try to get the kids back,” said Granite City head coach Gerard Moore in an interview conducted on Saturday. “So whatever that means, it typically means we have to play a lot and we have to try to rotate a bunch of guys and try to get everybody better that shows up in the summer. It’s always difficult getting all the kids together in the summer, because so many of them play multiple sports and it’s always a challenge. But so far, things are going well. We’ve played a bunch of games, pretty much difficult games in this tournament. We’ve played Peoria Manuel, we just got done playing University City and tomorrow, we play CBC and Decatur MacArthur. So it’s a good test for us, it’s a good opportunity to get better and I think we know that.”
Things are indeed looking up for the Warriors as they prepare for the upcoming season, in which a very experienced team will look to contend in the area and will play a hard-working style that’s very typical of a Granite City team.
“Well, things are looking good,” Moore said. “I think that we have nine seniors coming back. The problem with us is we don’t have any size, but we have a bunch of tough guys that are going to guard and we’re going to play Granite City Warriors basketball, which is to grind it out and give ourselves a chance to win. You know, in high school, if the shots are falling, you’re pretty good. If it’s not, it may look different.”
In other words, it’s going to be a typical Warrior team. full of blue-collar, hard-working players who will scrap and claw every night, no matter the circumstances. It’s a style that befits the community perfectly.
“Yes, I’m extremely happy with that,” Moore said. “I’m mostly happy with the kids’ attitudes and their commitment to our program and what we’re trying to do. That’s how you build. You’ve got a bunch of guys that are hard-working, blue-collar kids. Hopefully, the kids who are the younger ones get to see the Granite City way and how we continue to win and maybe one day, win the region and move on. It’s a building process. You’ve got to start somewhere.”
Overall, Moore has been happy with the way everything has been going, but also realizes it’s the summer season and things can change very quickly.
“Yeah, I am, I am, but it’s summer,” Moore said. “Things could change, the kids can get better, they get hurt. We just wanted to stay neutral and continue to get better. But overall, I think we should be hopefully above .500 again. That’s the goal, the goal is to win a regional game or two and get out of the regional, That’s the goal of every high school coach and that’s our goal.”
The returning seniors to the Warriors include Trevon Bond, Alex Boyer, Mario Brown, Milton Dowell, Ivan Gaston, Octavio Huerta, Johnnie Smith and Alvin Valentine. losing only two players – Jayden Moore and Tristin Riggins – to graduation. Moore is very excited about Bond, who’s been receiving attention from college recruiters.
“I’m really excited about Trevon,” Moore said. “He’s had a lot of interest from a few schools. I want him to continue to keep playing well and hopefully, he can play after high school.”
