A season of growth and learning ended on a high note in late February, as the Powell High School boys’ junior varsity basketball team wrapped up its campaign on a two-game winning streak. The Panthers finished their season 13-7.

Coming together as a JV squad can be difficult, as the team featured nine sophomores, four juniors and four freshmen by season’s end.

“I thought we had a really good junior varsity team that is going to be beneficial for our varsity team next year,” Panthers coach Waleryan Wisniewski said.

Wisniewski said the intensity and physicality of the team continued to improve throughout the season. The reason?

“When you play against the guys we play every day in practice you are simply going to get better,” Wisniewski said.

Throughout the season, the team continued to have different players step up, regardless of whether they were a freshman, sophomore or a junior.

At each level, the basketball IQ of the players continued to improve, coach Wisniewski said, as they all contributed in their own ways on offense and defense.

Scoring leaders throughout the season changed from game to game but included juniors Jace Hyde and Ryan Cordes, sophomore Marshall Lewis and freshmen Alex Jordan, Evan Whitlock and Keona Wisniewski.

Coach Wisniewski said the team was helped by a strong sophomore class that is deep, but he feels the freshman class just behind them is knocking on the door.

Throughout the season, the coach said he continued to preach that it does not matter who scores the most points, but rather the importance of Powell being the winning team on the scoreboard at the end of the game.

“I could not be any more proud of them,” coach Wisniewski said.