The Calvert Hall basketball team opens the 2014-15 campaign at home tonight at 6 against Maryland Interscholastic Athletic Association B Conference opponent Friends, but the Cardinals have already set their expectations high for another strong finish in the A Conference.
The Cardinals return the top three scorers from last season's 29-7 squad that lost in the Baltimore Catholic League championship game to Mount St. Joseph.
Senior forward Evan Phoenix (6 feet 8) is the biggest of the bunch, but senior guards Drew Edwards (6-3) and Nico Clareth (6-4) make up one of the elite backcourts in the league.
Edwards will play at Providence University next year, while Phoenix will play at Central Connecticut State.
Clareth is undecided, but has received multiple Division I offers.
The other returning veterans are senior guards T. J. Duckett (6-2), Reggie Rouse (5-9) and Kenji Bahar (6-3), and junior forward Justin Gorham (6-7).
Coach John Bauersfeld projects Gorham as a Division I player.
"They are a pretty unselfish group," Bauersfeld said. "I thought they did a good job last year playing together and I think it's going to get even better this year."
On the court, the Cardinals have a nice blend of size and shooting ability.
"It's probably the biggest team I've ever started," Bauersfeld said. "Both our guards are big and Evan is 6-8 and Gorham is 6-7, so we've got a lot of size up front and a lot of length, which can cause problems."
The Cardinals graduated two seniors who are playing in college in Chris Wallace (Lycoming) and Sean Mayberry (Arcadia), so Bauersfeld is hoping to get contributions from a bench that includes: juniors Austin Griffith (6-3, F), Kobe Usher (6-0, G), Michael Westbrook (6-1, G), Jordan Hall (6-1, G) and Alonzo Brandon (6-3, F) and sophomore Dyante Doughty (5-10, G).
Bauerfeld thinks his team, which shared a Baltimore Catholic League regular-season title with St. Joe last year, should battle for a title again this year.
"We pretty much return everybody and we had a great year last year, so I would think we are in the upper echelon in the league again this year," he said.
