Raiders finish season at 10-12

DAVENPORT — The Williamsburg boys basketball team had ended its season Monday night in a Class 3A Substate 5 first-round game.

The sixth-seeded Raiders traveled to play Davenport Assumption.

The Knights led 12-3 after one and slowly built their lead from there to an eventual 63-40 final.

The Raiders closed their season at 10-12.

A season of adversity

“This season has been tough for us,” Williamsburg coach Brad Knoop said. “Out of the 16 teams we faced, only three had less returning scoring than us, which definitely impacted our performance in close games.”

Injuries also derailed the Raiders’ success this season.

The player with the most varsity playing experience, Grant Hocker, missed nine games. John Eichhorn miseed the whole season and Rayce Heitman missed time early and the substate game.

After starting 3-7, the Raiders were 7-5 in their last 12 games, including a four-game win streak.

“The second half of the season had its share of highs and lows,” Knoop said. “Each game seemed to showcase different players stepping up and finding ways to help us win.”

In the early absence of Hocker, players such as Dylan Weisskopf stepped their games up.

Weisskopf led the team in scoring on the season. Through 21 games, he averaged 13.3 points per game.

It may not have been the season the Raiders had hoped for, but valuable lessons were learned along the way.

“While some might view our losing record as a failure, I see it as a rewarding experience,” said Knoop. “We ended up 8-8 in the WaMaC conference and secured third in the West.”

“We learned a lot about our team dynamics and what we need to work on for next season, plus we gained valuable experience for the returning players.”

The Raiders had three senior starters in Hocker, Heitman and Bryson Wetjen, but will return players such as Weisskopf, Grady Wetjen, Griffin Becker and PJ Carey.