TORRINGTON – The Eastern Wyoming College men’s basketball team got a taste of late-season success last year, and that has left the team wanting more heading into the 2019-20 season.

The Lancers finished the season 12-20, qualifying for the Region IX Tournament and knocking off Western Wyoming in the opening round.

“I liked how we finished, getting back to the Regional Tournament,” second-year coach Tim Moser said. “It took us a while to grow the culture and get this thing back to where it was. I don’t think our kids understood what this place is all about.”

Now that Moser has had a full year to recruit and seven returners back, he feels his team is ready to take the next step.

“Now, we’ve had a whole year to recruit the kids we wanted to get in here and grow the character. I like where we are at right now,” he said. “We have advanced our talent level and have some size. We have a lot of new kids and a lot of transfers. I think we’ll be in the mix this year.”

The team will be led by returners David Hook, Jonatan Arvidsson, Sam Tiley, Nick Mirich, Jordan Potts who all saw significant playing time a year ago.

“It’s made it easier for us to go from drill to drill, and they know the direction they want to go. After going to the Regional tournament last year and beating Western Wyoming, they saw what it’s going to take. Those kids are hungry, but they came back wanting to make a run at it.”

Arvidsson was the top scorer last season, averaging 15 points per game, while Hook tossed in 7.2 points and grabbed 6.1 rebounds per game.

“(They) have comeback with a different mindset. They’ve all grown. They’ve all grown in their effort and leadership,” Moser said.

The Lancers also have a number of newcomers to the program, including a pair of transfers who will contribute right away.

Jonathan Hall, a 7-foot, 260-pound transfer from Colorado State University-Pueblo, will make an immediate impact in the paint for EWC.

Meanwhile, the Lancers also added 6-8 transfer Karl Drammeh from Cowley (Kansas) Community College.

“We have a lot of size to be playing inside a little more,” Moser said. “I’m a big fan of Jon and Karl. They have a year under their belts. It’ll help a lot to have those kids.”

The Lancer season tips off Nov. 1-2 at home against Adams State JV and Northwest Kansas Tech JV, but EWC will get tested quickly after that.

“I think it was important to sprinkle in some of those JV teams early, but we will get tested early with road games against McCook and North Platte. We go to Salt Lake. We get Rainy River Community College,” Moser said. “We’ll get tested, but we also have a couple of those games where we can play everybody. I like what we have.

“I encourage people to come out and really cheer these kids on. I think they are going to fight hard and represent this community really well.”