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By ANDREW SIMONSON | Sports Editor

The Helena Huskies made history last season with their first-ever Final Four appearance and made the most of it, giving eventual champion Buckhorn a strong run for its money.

Now, with that memory fresh in the back of their minds, the Huskies are out to repeat last year’s success after getting their first taste.

“These guys had a chance to do things that have never been done before at Helena High School, but the goal is no different this year, it’s going to be to try to do what we need to do consistently enough to get to a three-peat in the area, get to a regional and then, like we said last year, anything can happen once you get to that regional, so that’s the goal again this year,” Helena coach Lucas McDonald said.

Two of the biggest pieces from that team graduated in Shelby County Player of the Year Josh Williams and All-County standout Ian Johnigan, but the Huskies return their other three starters as last year’s role players step into new leadership position as they aim to keep this successful stretch going.

McDonald said that last year’s experience helps set the expectations of how hard the team will need to work if they want to get back to the Final Four as they’ve competed in big-time situations and now have a foundation to build off.

Last year’s group also got their taste of life without Williams and Johnigan due to injuries, and that also helped prepare them for their new reality.

“All of those kids last year that, we can call them role players, but, they all played a big role in us getting to the Final Four, it wasn’t just the Josh show and it wasn’t just the Ian show, and we played without both of those guys throughout the course of last year, I think it was like nine or ten different games,” McDonald said. “So, this group has done it before, they’ve had to play without those guys and they’ll be fine. It’s just us figuring out what we need to do consistently every day to give ourselves the best opportunity to win, and that’s all we talk about. We don’t talk about wins and losses, we talk about every day, ‘What do we need to do to put ourselves in position to be successful,’ and the wins and losses will take care of themselves.”

As for the players who will be back this year, Helena will have a strong post presence behind returning big men Drew Davis, Torrey Ward and Joseph King.

Just like recent seasons though, Ward, Nate Ferguson and Kevin Pinkard will be fresh off football season after another playoff run. While football season ended six days before the basketball opener on Nov. 14 against Hewitt-Trussville, it will take some time for them to integrate back into the team.

That said though, King said that the chemistry with this group has been very strong as their bonds grow on and off the court, which should help with a few pieces missing during the fall.

“I feel like everybody is super close on the team,” King said. “They enjoy being around each other, whether it’s on and off the court, and each team has different groups and like, we’re different teams, but we can all come together and be one team.”

On the court, McDonald expects the team to be much more balanced than last year when they relied more on Williams and Johnigan but also to continue to progress as the players and McDonald start their third season together.

“It’s going to be a work in progress,” McDonald said. “Obviously, we lost two great scorers last year, but we had a great summer. We’re going to be really balanced this year. We were really balanced throughout the course of the summer, did a lot of really good things, shared the basketball really well and again, I expect to take some more strides we’re now in year three. Last year, we made some strides simply because we knew what to expect offensively, defensively.”

McDonald expects to lean heavily on his core six group of veterans: seniors King, Ward, Pinkard and Denton McDonald as well as juniors Ferguson and Davis. He knows they’ll have to both adjust to their new roles quickly and lead well to give the team its best chance.

“That senior group, I really expect to step up this year, and we talk about it all the time, we’re only going to go as far as our seniors lead us, and that’s a big part of what we do every year,” Lucas said. “But then you’ve got Drew Davis and you’ve got Nate Ferguson as well that they’re going to play different roles this year, they’re going to have to pick it up. I really see us have an opportunity to have a lot of a one-two punch inside with Joe and Drew this year and a better understanding of offensively what we’re trying to do there and some of the things that we do, and then again, just throwing different wrinkles in and what we do.

“So that core six, I really expect all of them to step their games up in different ways, whether it be offensively, defensively or both to get us to where we want to be, and ultimately that’s try to get to the regional.”

That path to the regional will go through a new-look Class 6A, Area 8 that includes former 7A sides Chelsea and Spain Park as well as perennial rival Pelham. In addition, the Huskies will face teams like Hewitt-Trussville, Thompson, McAdory and Tuscaloosa County in non-area play.

To get to the same heights as last year, Denton believes that Helena needs to refine the little things that will help them be successful, especially if they start the season without their roster being at 100 percent.

“I think to reach our full potential, we really need to focus on little details, like talking, that’s a big thing we need to work on and just doing those little things like boxing out, especially at the beginning of the year,” Denton said. “We’re missing football guys, those are big parts of our team, so, those little details are going to be really vital for us pulling out wins and being successful throughout the season.”

As with any Helena team though, it all comes back to community. The players and coaches still have vivid memories of the large supporters’ section that they had at Legacy Arena for the Final Four which built off a strong season of support at home.

The loyalty of the Huskies fans through thick and thin is something that the players don’t take lightly, and as they seek to replicate last season’s success, they hope to draw from that energy every night.

“At the Final Four, I think pretty much our whole school came and even the middle school,” Denton said. “They really support us through everything, and people want to see us do great things, and they want to see us win more games, and they’re there for wins and losses.”