The 2014-2015 Southern Lehigh boys’ basketball team is ready to get back to shooting some hoops after last year’s loss to Blue Mountain High School in the District XI 3A Playoffs. According to some players on the team, they feel they can get right back to where they were a year ago.

“Our first goal is to win leagues,” senior Noah Kandt said, “and then once we get into districts, we will make things happen.”

Kandt is this year’s captain, and he hopes that he can lead his team to a championship.

An adjustment this season is that Southern Lehigh has moved up from 3A to 4A in District XI. Second-year head coach Ben Tannous feels his team is ready.

“We have a very good team to contend for the league title,” Coach Tannous said, “but we know districts will be a little more tough since we are playing in 4A instead of 3A.”

Tannous asks his team to make sure they come out and play their best everyday and to make sure that there is great effort in winning games. He advises them to forget about last year’s loss as much as they can, but keep it in memory because it gives them playoff experience.

One of last year’s standouts was newcomer Lucas Hudson. Now a sophomore, Hudson looks to have another great year.

“I put a lot of hard work in the offseason and every time I could, I tried to get better,” Hudson said.

He also feels that the team has gotten a lot stronger from last year.

“We have more experience and we have more team unity,” Hudson said.

For the most part, the team seems pretty confident of their status right now. There is, however, one thing that Coach Tannous asks of the Southern Lehigh student body.

“We love the student sections, and it will be a good key to our success this year and we need more of them,” Coach Tannous said. “It gives us a good home court environment.”

Like any sports team, the team sets goals for what they would like to achieve this season. The Spartans only have one.

“Just win,’’ Coach Tannous said.