Hobart's Paxson Hiko burst onto the scene as a sophomore last season.
The young point guard is being asked to take another step forward so the Bricks, whose last winning season came in 2019-20, can do the same.
“We can't win if Paxson doesn't score,” Hobart coach Devon Key said. “We have some key guys who can score points, but we need Paxson to be Paxson every night.
“He knows he has to put the ball in the basket and he has to be consistent. As long as he's consistent, we'll have a lot of success.”
Hiko averaged 9.1 points last season, second among returning players behind senior guard. Ryan Bashamand also made 1.5 assists and 1.2 steals.
Together, Hikko and Basham are expected to form one of the best backcourts in the Northwest Crossroads Conference. Basham, a product of Dominican University, averaged 13.3 points on 35 percent 3-point shooting last season.
Basham has played with Hiko since middle school and credits him with making his life easier on the court.
“It’s great playing with him because he can’t do anything like that on the basketball court,” Basham said. “He's great at handling pressure and driving to the basket, and that gives me the ability to knock down threes.”
Basham also noted the progress Hiko has made in the offseason.
“He worked a lot on his pull-ups,” Basham said. “That's one of his better shots. He's definitely gotten stronger in the paint as well. He's able to create contact, use the defender's body and get shots over it. And he can jump higher than he otherwise could.”
This led to Hiko's signature moment of the summer – his first dunk.
“It was a good feeling to see my hard work pay off,” he said. “I’ve been trying to dunk since my freshman year, and it wasn’t until recently that I finally managed to do it.”
Hiko is cautiously optimistic about what he'll dunk in games this season.
“If I get a fast break opportunity, yes, I think it could happen,” he said.
But Hiko's offseason work wasn't all about dunking. He and Key expect him to average at least 13 points for Hobart, which went 9-15 last season and is scheduled to play South Central on Wednesday.
Key believes that Hikko did everything necessary to make this happen.
“He’s a gym rat,” Key said. “He's always in the gym. I tell players all the time that there's no secret to any of this. The work you put in in those invisible hours when you're alone matters more than you think. So I hear him talk a lot about preparation, and I think he'll do a good job this year because he's prepared himself.”
“Once you get to work when no one is watching, you can expect to see results.”
Hikko said increasing his numbers is “definitely” in the back of his mind, but it's secondary to his main mission of helping the Brickies win.
“I’m the same off the court as I am on it,” he said. “I'm a hard worker, and in everything I do, I try to do my best and give 100%. It happens in the classroom, with my family, and I try to influence my teammates to do the same. I try to make them work as hard as they can so I can get the most out of them and we can get the most out of our team.”
“It's very important to me to win games for Hobart. I'm tired, the team is tired and the program is tired of losing. I think this year could be our chance to really say that Hobart basketball is not a losing team.”
Noah Poser is a freelance reporter.
