DAINGERFIELD, Texas-After Daingerfield had nine holes to fill from graduation last year, there were plenty of opportunities for new faces to step up into key roles for the Tigers.
Several players made a difference for the Tigers, who nearly repeated their successes from 2016 in 2017 with so many new varsity basketball players.
Junior forward Tim Broner had a specific skill set that enabled him to be a tough opponent to guard. The 6-foot-3 Tiger has been selected as the Gazette's Newcomer of the Year for 2017.
"Tim was a good rebounder and scorer; he can play inside and outside," Daingerfield coach Curtis Lewis said. "He's got a big enough body to play inside, but he's got the skills of a guard."
Broner averaged 13.2 points per game and pulled down 9.1 rebounds for Daingerfield, which won its third straight district championship and played three rounds deep in the playoffs.
The Tigers finished 21-12, falling in the regional quarterfinals. Last season the team advanced to the regional semifinals.
"We always have high hopes, but I didn't think we would do what we did when we started out," Lewis said. "I kept saying if Tim can come along, Mikal (Reeves) could stay healthy, we might be OK. What I didn't know about were my guards, and I had a couple of guys who were just tough kids and worked it at both ends. The got up for a challenge every night because they came in the gym and worked hard everyday."