With a roster featuring eight freshmen, the Sandburg men’s basketball team will gain plenty of on-court experience in short order to start the 2024-25 season.
The Chargers play five games in the new campaign’s first eight days, starting with their opener November 2 at Spoon River. Sandburg, under the guidance of 18th-year head coach Ryan Twaddle, then came home to face St. Ambrose JV November 3 at John Lewis Gym.
KEY RETURNERS
Ethan Price (Fulton, Ill./Fulton), 6-foot-5 sophomore forward• Averaged 6.0 points and 4.0 rebounds in 31 games (30 starts) as a freshman• Twaddle: “Ethan works very hard on and off the floor. He’s our leader, and we expect him to have a great season this year.”
Logan Sluder (Normal, Ill./Normal West), 5-11 sophomore guard• Averaged 6.3 points, 2.3 rebounds and 2.8 assists in 31 games last season, including seven starts.• Twaddle: “Logan can shoot it and is very creative around the rim. He’s a willing passer who we also expect to be a leader for us.”
KEY NEWCOMERS
Tyler Heffren (Eureka, Ill./Eureka), 6-4 freshman guard• All-time leader at Eureka for career points (1,834), single-season points (677) and career 3-pointers (199).• Illinois Basketball Coaches Association Class First Team All-State• Associated Press all-state honorable mention• Two-time Macomb-Western Holiday Tournament MVP• Twaddle: “Tyler is in range when he steps into the gym. He’s able to provide scoring, toughness and a team approach to winning. We expect Tyler to have a big freshman season.”
Ralph Wires (Quincy, Ill./Quincy), 5-11 freshman guard• Point guard for Blue Devils team that finished 31-4, won the Western Big 6 Conference title and reached the Class 4A sectional final.• Twaddle: “Ralph is a great on-ball defender who can disrupt the other team’s offense. We expect Ralph to set the tone for our defense this season.”
Demarion Honaker (Camanche, Iowa/Camanche), 6-7 freshman forward
• Averaged team highs of 18.9 points and 10.5 rebounds as a senior on 55 percent shooting.• Twaddle: “Demarion is able to play inside-out as a big. He’s a great athlete and is still trying to reach his potential as an all-around player.”
WHAT ARE YOUR EXPECTATIONS FOR THIS SEASON?
Twaddle: “We have a very young team this season, with eight freshmen. We expect to see growth over the first semester while playing our best basketball at the end of the year when we’ll be more experienced. We have a great freshman class and expect them to only get better with as the season goes along.”
THIS WILL BE SUCCESSFUL SEASON IF …
Twaddle: “We will have a successful season if we continue to improve and mature on a daily basis. We’ve seen this progress over our first month of practice, and we expect that we’ll continue to grow as people, students and basketball players.”
GAMES TO WATCH
• Nov. 16 vs. Madison (Chargers basketball alumni reunion)
• Feb. 22 vs. Olive-Harvey (Sophomore Day)
HOW TO FOLLOW THE CHARGERS
• Watch Chargers home games live and on-demand on the Sandburg YouTube channel.
• Sign up for SportReporting to get free text and/or email notifications of Chargers game results.
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