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HAMILTON — The Badin High School boys basketball team is going to have to find a way to replace last year's leading scorer, leading rebounder and its general, overall leader, all of whom were named Logan Schroeder.

"I think we'll have a lot more scoring options this year, which could be a good thing and a bad thing," Rams coach Nick Argentati said. "It's a good thing because teams can't just focus on stopping one guy, but we're gonna have to figure out when it's crunch time, where does the ball need to go?"

During last year's 14-10, Greater Catholic League Central Division championship season, eight games came down to the final possession. And even though everyone knew the ball was going to Schroeder, he usually made the big shot to win games.

This year, someone among returning starters Corey Van Natta, Scott Purcell and Ben Motley and first-year starters Colton Mehlman and Scott Staarmann will have to step into that role.

Seniors Van Natta and Staarmann and junior Purcell will be the starting guards, while senior Motley and sophomore Mehlman will be the forwards.

Even though Mehlman is a first-year starter, he saw considerable action last year as the sixth man, and Staarmann recovered from a preseason injury to play some minutes in the tournament run to the district championship game.

"I'd say experience is our biggest strength," Argentati said. "We were in a ton of close games last year, and that's really going to help."

In addition to the starters, senior forward Jake Clear also logged some key minutes last year and will be called upon to play an even bigger role this year. Junior forward and Ross transfer Brad Franks also will see time in the frontcourt, along with junior Matt Combs.

In the backcourt, junior guard Christian Riel is what Argentati called "the only true point guard in the program," so he'll be called upon to handle the ball against some of the tougher defensive teams the Rams will face.

Junior guards Nick Burrus and David Morner round out the group of guards.

"I think this year's team is better than last year's team was at this point, but last year's team got a lot better from the beginning of the year to the end," Argentati said. "If this year's team can make that same improvement, we'll be pretty good."

Contact this reporter at (513) 820-2193 or jmorrison@coxohio.com.

Badin roster

Nick Burrus G 5-11 Jr.

Jake Clear F 6-4 Sr.

Matt Combs F 6-1 Jr.

Brad Franks F 6-2 Jr.

Colton Mehlman F 6-5 So.

David Morner G 5-11 Jr.

*Ben Motley F 6-4 Sr.

*Scott Purcell G 6-3 Jr.

Christian Riel G 5-6 Jr.

Scott Staarmann G 5-11 Sr.

*Corey Van Natta G 6-0 Sr.

* Returning starter

2008-09 Schedule

Dec. 5 at Talawanda

Dec. 9 Northwest

Dec. 12 at Moeller

Dec. 16 Kettering Alter

Dec. 19 at McNicholas

Dec. 22 at Purcell Marian

Dec. 27 at Edgewood

Jan. 6 at Dayton CJ

Jan. 9 Roger Bacon

Jan. 16 Elder

Jan. 17 at Ross

Jan. 20 Reading

Jan. 27 St. Xavier

Jan. 30 at Roger Bacon

Feb. 3 at Dayton Carroll

Feb. 6 McNicholas

Feb. 10 Fenwick

Feb. 13 at La Salle

Feb. 17 Dayton Christian

Feb. 20 Purcell Marian