ARGYLE — The Orioles’ boys basketball team returns seven letterwinners from last season, but collectively, they averaged just about 16 points per game.

This winter those numbers will have to go up in order for Argyle to contend night in and night out.

“Replacing our top two scorers will be a challenge,” coach Jesse Halvorsen said. “We will have a lot of guys getting bigger roles with losing three starters from last year.”

Graduated are all-conference players Clay Ritschard and Connor Carius, plus Mason Svendsen. The trio averaged nearly 30 points per game. 

Returning are seniors Kaden Hartwig (6 ppg) and Alex Gilbertson (1.3 ppg), juniors Noah Moen (1.5 ppg), Caden Stoerger (0.5 ppg) and Jace Starr, plus sophomores Will Helfvogt (5 ppg) and Max Godfrey (2.3 ppg). Freshman Ike Waage, a forward, joins the squad this season.

“We expect to be in the fight for a conference title at the end of the year,” Halvorsen said. “I think our speed and quickness will help us. We have a lot of quick guys to get up and down the court fast.”

Halvorsen said finding consistent scoring is the area that needs the most improvement.

“With a lot of new guys asked to do more scoring, I think we will have to rely on our defense early in the year until we can figure out everyone’s role on offense,” he said.

Like most of the coaches in the conference, the Six Rivers East seems to be more open than in recent years. 

“I’d say Pecatonica if I had to choose. They return both their top scorers from last year and have one of the more experienced teams in conference this year,” Halvorsen said.