By Gene Helfman, Island Weekly contributor.

The operative word for the 2022- 2023 Lobos Men’s Basketball team is youth. The bench is deep, with fifteen players showing up regularly. But most are underclassmen, predominantly 9th and 10th graders. The only senior on the team is Malachi Carey, with no juniors on the roster. Carey is expected to lead the team, and sophomore Ethan Patrick is a strong co-leader. What remains to be seen is who else among the freshmen and sophomores will emerge in a supporting role. Coach Shane Patrick — who has assumed the helm after the long and successful tenure of MR Buffum — is encouraged by the spirited nature of the team’s practices, and expects the team will grow and improve over the season as they focus on quickness, aggressiveness on defense, and capitalizing on that aggression to create opportunities to score. Coach Patrick is “very excited to see our progress through this year!” That progress will be that much greater if the Lopez community continues their enthusiastic attendance at games, supporting a young and promising group of athletes.