By: Lanie Roberts

Jaelen Nice just finished his first season as the head coach of the Salem Lions basketball team. Overall, the team was 3-21 this season, but had several close games. Nice thought that the boys competed well with teams this season.

Nice said the team improved on both offense and defense as the season progressed and had several members step up in different games. He wanted to focus on building a foundation for the team moving forward. 

The seniors this year were Jaden Cheatwood, Les Bowles, Alex Wilcox and Wyatt Chastain. Wilcox stepped up and had some big defensive moments for the team. Cheatwood was one of three team captains and also had some big offensive plays this season. 

Great  players from junior varsity include: Aiden Short, Carson Albertson, Payton Schocke, Landon Irwin, Ethan Campbell, Cage Calloway and Caris Moore. All of these players contributed to the success of the team. 

Before being a coach of high school basketball, Nice was a college coach. He said that the college game is different from high school in the speed of the athletes, but the team did a great job of adapting to the new concepts Nice introduced from his previous job. 

“Overall, it’s not that different from the college game, basketball is very similar everywhere you go,” Nice said.

Junior Adam Mull has been playing basketball since he was in first grade. Basketball has affected Mull’s life by helping him meet and play with people he is still friends with. 

“The team atmosphere was great this year,” he said. “Coach Nice is a very knowledgeable guy about basketball and all of the team respected him and truly wanted to learn from him. Plus, us players were all very close and enjoyed playing for each other.” 

While he wished the team was able to win more games, he knows they are a young team. He believes that if the team continues to work hard then they will get to a point of winning more games. One of Mull’s goals for the team next season is to finish top three in the conference.

Freshman Kaiden Romero-Hembree has been playing basketball for as long as he can remember. According to Romero, the team atmosphere was very good. He said that Nice kept his composure even when the team had off days. 

Basketball has affected Romero’s life because it has helped him make great friendships and has helped his athletic ability. He had high hopes for this season but it did not go as planned. Romero said they played hard in their games but it seemed there would be one quarter where they would lose it. He also wants to be in the top three in the conference, but wants to win a sectional game as well and win the county tournament.  

“We have a lot of room to grow as a team, but something I think we all did well was we never gave up and played hard,” Romero said.