Independent file photo Canby’s Riley Kockelman drives past a Lakeview defender during their 2016 game. The Lancers will rely on youth this season with just one starter returning from last year’s team.

CANBY – The Canby Lancers finished last season with a 13-11 record under the direction of head coach Zach Traphagen. This season Traphagen and his staff will be tasked with replacing four starters from last year’s team.

The Lancers graduated one of the best 3-point shooters in Sawyer Hansen along with one of the beter post players in Adam Durfee. Traphagen said it will take a team effort to replace the production that those two brought to the table for the Lancers last year.

“Riley Kockelman and Zach Durfee will need to share the scoring load on most nights,” Traphagen said. “With Blake Mercer being an experienced player he needs to be a leader for us.”

Zach Durfee is a sophomore guard. Traphagen said Durfee’s greatest strength is his athleticism.

“Zach is very long and athletic and has excellent explosion when attacking the basket,” Traphagen said. “He can be a big time scorer if he continues to improve his jump shot and post play.”

The Lancers lack varsity experience with just one starter returning. Traphagen said that his team’s greatest strength this year will be the ball movement.

“These guys have shown that they are an unselfish group who play their best when the ball is moving quickly and being shared,” he said. “There are some good slashers on this team that can create opportunities for themselves and others when they get into the paint.”

With so much inexperience there are bound to be bumps in the road early for the Lancers. They started the season with back to back losses to Murray County Central and Russell-Tyler-Ruthton. They picked up their first win of the season on Tuesday against Tracy-Milroy-Balaton. Traphagen said in order for his team to be successful they have to outwork their opponent each and every night.

“Just having a worker’s mentality of no one is going to outwork us on any given night,” he said. “We can’t afford not to play with great effort and confidence. We need to develop trust in each other and really embrace being a more mentally tough team night in and night out.”