Prior to playing Woodland last week, the Paulding County boys’ basketball team was 15-7 as they moved closer to the postseason region tournament — still a little shaky but in much better shape than expected.

“We feel very comfortable with where we are as a program. We dropped a few games that we felt we could have won, but that is part of the learning process and we have gotten better every game,” said head coach Anthony Cayetano.

At the start of this season, with only two seniors, Cayetano knew his team was young and would face some issues when it came to inexperience. However, over the season, the team made improvements and showed they have the heart to survive, despite their youth.

“I knew we had the pieces to compete at a high level. What concerned me with our young team was how consistent could we be over the long season. I feel like we have grown tremendously over the course of this year,” Cayetano said.

At this point in the year, Cayetano named 6-foot-7 junior Raasean Davis as his top offensive player as he averages 15 points and 17 rebounds a game. Six-foot junior Javonte Williams was named the team’s top defender.

“He has bought into the changes that we asked of him and has become our best defender,” said Cayetano.

In his fourth season as the boys’ head coach, Cayetano has finally seen a winning season. The first season, 2009-2010, finished with a 1-22 record. The following season the Patriots improved to 7-19. Last season the team improved a little more, wrapping the season up at 8-16.

Cayetano said he knew this would be the year and attributed the success to one particular class of guys.

“We knew that this year would be the year where we turned the corner. Our junior class has done an excellent job of offseason workout and conditioning and set a tone for a level of expectation and consistency for our younger players,” said Cayetano.

“I am proud of how these young men have matured on and off the court.”