If other coaches are surprised, they’re not admitting it. But the Hood men’s basketball team certainly exceeded its own expectations in its first Capital Athletic Conference season.
“When the season started, my hope was that we would make the conference tournament because there are nine teams in the league, and number nine doesn’t make it,” said Blazers head coach Tom Dickman.
Instead, in the program’s fourth year, Hood won nine of its first 10 conference games and earned the top seed, relying on an inside-out combination of junior center Jesse Gutekunst (18.6 points, 11.0 rebounds per game) and sophomore guard Ryan Junghans (Magruder High), a transfer from St. Mary’s who missed all of last season with a back injury.
This season he’s averaging 20.1 points, shooting 45.7 percent from 3-point range, and he’s ninth in the nation in free throw shooting (89.9 percent).
“We’ve always had shooters, but we haven’t had a lights-out shooter to go to, so he’s the first guy we’ve actually run plays for to get shots,” said senior guard Justin Junghans (Magruder), Ryan’s older brother and one of three seniors that make up the Hood’s first graduating class of males since the school went co-ed in the fall of 2003.
Wheeler rolling
Catholic head coach Steve Howes had no idea before the season he would’ve been disappointed with 16 points and five rebounds from Stephen Wheeler in a CAC playoff game.
What struck Howes after Tuesday’s win over Salisbury was he thought his senior center should’ve had 30.
“He’s just gotten better every single year,” said Howes. “When things weren’t going well for him the past couple years, it never stopped him from working.”
With 12.6 points and 8.4 rebounds per game, Wheeler (Good Counsel High) has tripled his averages this season.
“The team’s been clicking,” said Wheeler of the Cardinals, who have won eight of their last nine. “As a result, I’ve just seemed to find where I fit.”
Capital Athletic Conference semifinals
» St. Mary’s (16-10) at Hood (20-6), 7
» Mary Washington (16-9) at Catholic (20-5), 7
