FRUITPORT – A lot of people probably figured last season was as good as it could get for the Fruitport boys basketball team.

The Trojans had several skilled players returning from the previous season, plus a very talented freshman, and put it all together to post the best season in program history.

They won the first conference championship in team history, produced a win against rival Spring Lake for the first time in a decade, and set a team record for the most victories in one season.

It was an exciting winter in Fruitport, where basketball had never been a very successful sport in the past.

But fans will be happy to hear that the best may very well be yet to come. The Trojans will return six players from last year’s title team – including four starters – and have yet another very talented freshman joining the lineup.

If all goes according to plan, another brand new record for victories in a season could be set, and more trophies could be on the way.

The talent is definitely there, and if the players are willing to buy into one of the Trojans’ major themes – unselfish play – the possibilities are endless.

It all starts on Tuesday night when Fruitport visits Western Michigan Christian in a season-opening non-conference matchup.

“The excitement is there for the guys, too,” said head coach Steve Erny, whose team posted a 17-6 overall record last year, including an 11-3 mark in the O-K Silver conference. “They really want to have a great season for each other.

“One of our themes this year is sacrifice. There is a lot of talent on this team, and a lot of experience, but as we told the guys, good teams sacrifice for each other. That may mean you have to put aside something you want to do to help the team as a whole, and a lot of that is on the defensive end of the floor.

“If we had a weaker area last year, it might have been on the defensive end sometimes. We also needed to rebound better, and sometimes we settled for shots that were not great shots. We know what some of our weaker areas were and we’ve been addressing them. The guys are back and they are definitely excited to get it going.”

The returning nucleus from last year’s team would be very promising for Fruitport, all by itself.

It starts with senior guard DayDay Williams, who is about to begin his fourth year as a varsity starter, and is quite capable of having another great season after averaging 13.8 points, 5.4 rebounds, 3.8 assists and 2.4 steals per game in 2024-25.

“Most of his games, his stat sheet was full,” Erny said. “A lot of teams in the area have known him for a very long time, and they will be relieved when he finally moves on. He’s just a very consistent, hard-working kid who loves basketball. He’s in the gym all the time, and he’s been taking his training to new levels over the past year. He’s geared up to have a great senior year.

“His best attributes have always been his quickness and ball-handling and ability to get in the lane and finish around the rim, but I think his outside shot is going to be better this year, as well. If he can add a consistent jump shot, he will basically be impossible to guard.”

Also returning is sophomore guard Dexter Lillmars, who was the freshman three-point sharpshooter who joined the team and put the Trojans over the top last season. He averaged 15.6 points, 5-2 rebounds and 1.2 steals per game as a ninth-grader and set a school record for three-pointers in a season, and he wasn’t even close to being the type of player he’s going to be.

“He’s only a sophomore and he was arguably our best player last year,” Erny said. “He has already played a ton of high-level AAU basketball and has high aspirations to play college basketball one day. He is probably one of the best three-point shooters on our side of the state, and he’s still growing in a lot of areas.

“He’s a lot stronger this year. He has put on some muscle, and he looks quite different than last year. One of the things we’re excited about this season is that he’s been working on his ability to attack and get to the basket. He is a couple steps closer to being that all-around player that he’s going to be.”

Another returner with a record of major contributions is junior Hudson Hazekamp, who has grown to 6-foot-5 and will again be doing a lot of important things all over the court. Last year he averaged 10.3 points and a team-leading seven rebounds per game, and he’s still getting better, according to Erny.

The third-year varsity starter has always been able to shoot from the outside, but will also be more of an inside presence on offense this season, the coach said.

“When I watch film of him from last year, and I watch him practice now, he’s just a lot stronger and quicker,” Erny said about Hazekamp. “He does a lot for us, just because he’s big and strong and skilled and can play on the outside, and now one added thing he’s been doing in practice is finding his way to the basket.”

Another big man, 6-foot-3 senior Trevor Rusnak, is also back to add depth to the rotation.

Rusnak is a good outside shooter for a big guy, but the Trojans are also expecting him to score a bit more from inside, as well.

“He is a very intelligent player, he gets to the right spots, he’s pretty quick for his size, and he is one of the better communicators on the floor,” Erny said. “He is a player we are okay with shooting from the perimeter, but this year his scoring will probably be a good mixture, hopefully, of outside shooting combined with some efficiency inside.”

Junior Brady Hanson, who quietly served as an effective sixth man last year, is also back to play a bigger role this winter.

“He came off the bench and played a lot of minutes at crunch time last year, and he is one of the leaders this year,” Erny said. “He has stepped up his role. We lost Grade Anspach at point guard, and Brady is kind of filling that role.”

On top of all of those skilled returners are two newcomers who are expected to add a lot to the attack.

The first is this year’s freshman phenom – 6-foot-5 Garrett Olson – who, like Lillmars, is expected to make a significant impact right away.

“He’s very skilled for a tall, young player,” Erny said. “He can handle the ball, shoot a little bit, has good footwork around the basket, and he’s a very quick jumper. He can jump high and jump quick, getting rebounds and blocking shots.

“One way or another, he’s going to be a major contributor this year. There are going to be be some bumps in the road, because he’s a freshman, but he’s also going to turn some heads.”

Another newcomer is 6-foot-3 senior David Johnson-Jimenez, who did not play basketball last year due to a football injury.

“He’s a really strong kid who can move a little bit,” Erny said. “He will do a lot of the dirty work, getting rebounds and setting screens, all of those things that hard-nosed football kids can do. He’s going to fill a really important role for us.”

The other members of the team, who will play various roles, are senior Wyatt Fielstra, juniors Gavin Wilson and Rodney Robinson and sophomore Zander Sellinger.

One noticeable difference for the Trojans this year might be the way they score points. With a big guy like Olson playing inside, and veterans like Hazekamp and Rusnak looking to score more near the basket, the Trojans are trying to have a more diverse attack.

Last season they sometimes lived by the three-pointer, and that could spell trouble on nights when the long shots weren’t falling.

“Certainly we had games where we were not making the shots from the outside, and I think the guys saw the benefit of having a well-rounded attack,” Erny said. “That’s a big emphasis this year – play fast, run toward the three-point line, but also get to the paint, even if that means getting the ball down low and kicking it out to an open three-point shooter. We have definitely put an emphasis on that.”