BOYS’ BASKETBALL PREVIEW:Sage Hill still playing young

A year older and the Sage Hill School boys’ basketball team is still young.

Only one senior is on this year’s Lightning squad, and he’s a reserve. Loaded with nine juniors, and three sophomores and one freshman, Coach Steve Keith is still seeing his players develop.

“There are growing pains involved with that,” said Keith of using a rotation of six sophomores and two freshmen last year, when Sage Hill finished 11-15 and missed the playoffs. “We are stronger and we are going to be more competitive.

“We just don’t have that senior leadership.”

Come next year Keith will be able to depend on many seniors, three of those could be Jamie McGee, Nick Witte and Connor Rose.

The trio is already contributing. It has been since freshman year.

McGee, an All-Academy League, first-team shooting guard, leads the Lightning in scoring, putting up 19.6 points per game. Rose, a 6-foot-5 forward, and Witte, a point guard, are averaging around 10 points per game.

Witte is the key to Sage Hill’s motion offense. He’s started since his freshman year, but he’s been bothered by shoulder injuries.

“It popped out twice, and he’s going to have reconstructive surgery on it,” Keith said. “We’re hoping he doesn’t have to get it done until after the season.”

If Witte goes down, the Lightning (5-5) might, too.

Backing up Witte is freshman, Brian Hurst. His brother, Danny Hurst, is the lone senior. Keith said he would rather have the younger Hurst with the junior varsity team so that he could get playing experience, but with Witte’s shoulder problems he’s had to keep him up.

One player the Lightning have turned to early is sophomore forward Troy Astorino.

Keith said Rose injured his hand during a practice, forcing Astorino into action.

“He’s our defensive specialist,” said Keith of Astorino, who’s averaging 2.6 rebounds per game.

Preston Oklejas, a 6-4 forward, has also seen his minutes increase. Oklejas led the JV team last year in scoring, but with McGee around, the Lightning are just asking him to concentrate on rebounding and defense.

McGee’s the go-to-guy. He led Sage Hill to a third-place finish at the Fairmont Prep Tournament, scoring 16 of his 23 points in the fourth quarter as the Lightning beat Fairmont, 51-43, Saturday.

That’s a good sign for Keith, who’s seeing his young team improve each game. Credit the Lightning for scheduling stiffer competition. They’ve played Laguna Beach and Beckman, bigger schools than Sage Hill, a private school.

“We got blown out by Laguna Beach,” said Keith of the game his Lightning lost, 80-33. “But we beat Beckman, a new school, 32-30, and we’re going to play Estancia in January before league starts. Last year we racked up a lot of wins in December, but when it came to league we went 3-7.

“In a perfect world we’re going to grow in December, be really competitive in league this year, and then come next year we’ll be in a situation where we could be a really good team, and no longer a young one.”

Sage Hill has a break this week before coming back to play in the St. Anthony Tournament in Long Beach, Dec. 27-30.