Woodrow players have tasted success

Nov. 24—The goal of winning a state championship will never change for Woodrow Wilson boys basketball. It always helps when the players who are part of that charge have also tasted recent success in other sports.

That's the case this year for the Flying Eagles. They have several players who are coming off fall success, including one pleasant surprise.

State champion golfer Zan Hill came out for his senior season and has made the team, which will open its season Dec. 7 at home versus Bluefield. Add to that several members of the football team that qualified for the Class AAA state playoffs for the first time since 2014 and veteran basketball coach Ron Kidd hopes to see the success bleed over to the basketball court.

"He's been a big surprise," Kidd said of Hill. "He has that competitive spirit. He likes to compete. So he's been a big plus for our team, somebody that likes to compete and hates to lose."

Hill helped lead the golf team to its first regional championship in 26 years, then overtook the round one leader on the final day of the state tournament to capture the individual title.

"That's a big thing. He knows how hard he had to work to get that state championship, so that should carry on to our team," Kidd said. "Hard work brings out success. I think he can carry that over to our basketball team."

Meanwhile, players such as Maddex McMillen, Keynan Cook, Michael Miller and Elijah Redfern were all members of the football team that won its last two games of the regular season to finish 13th in the state ratings and make the playoffs for the first time in seven years.

"They got the experience of making the playoffs, and any time you compete in something like that, you know it takes work to make it to a playoff or a state tournament," Kidd said. "So that's a plus for us, just them doing that in football season."

The Flying Eagles finished last season 10-12, but got hot down the stretch and won a Region 3 co-final to earn a berth in the state tournament. They fell 69-56 to Morgantown in the first round.

A substantial loss from that team is Ben Gilliam, a Class AAAA first-team all-stater who averaged 13.1 points and 13.2 rebounds and was a 59 percent shooter from the floor. Gilliam is now playing at Davis & Elkins.

"It's a big loss, because I think when we played other people, any time you've got a player like Ben, I think he put a whole lot of fear into other teams by his rebounding, his inside scoring and just his overall presence on the inside," Kidd said.

There are several players returning, however. That experience and the momentum of last season's improved finish could be a recipe for another successful winter.

"We can go as far as our seniors can take us," Kidd said. "The main thing we've got to do is make sure we play as a team. We've got to play together on the offensive end as well as the defensive end.

"I think we're going to have good size at every position. I think we can play either way. I think we can play fast or we can play slow. I think that's the type of team that we have this year. But our people want to play fast and we want to bring excitement to the game."

Kidd added that the team has good shooters, including senior guard Landyn Wolfe, who has returned after leaving the program last season, along with players such as McMillen, Redfern and Sam Peck.

"He started out (last season) with us, then he got where he said he lost a little bit of desire in playing," Kidd said of Wolfe. "He's been a pleasure so far this year. He can really shoot the ball. I think the sky is the limit. It just depends on how bad he wants to be good. You've got to want to be good."

The Flying Eagles will be playing while still trying to process the loss of beloved teammate Dwayne Richardson, who was shot and killed on May 3, just three days before the team's state tournament game against Morgantown.

"That's something I know is on my mind, so I know it's on the kids' minds," Kidd said. "We've just got to move forward and get stronger. Any time you have a tragedy or something like that that happens, you've got to learn from it and just get stronger from it."

Email: gfauber@register-herald.com and follow on Twitter @GaryFauber