COVINGTON, Ga. — The Alcovy Tigers boys’ basketball team is ready to make another push to the playoffs on the back of both veteran and new players.

After concluding the previous two years around the .500 mark, the Tigers finished last season on the wrong note with a 7-15 record. Head coach Mack Hardwick feels this year’s team can bring the Tigers above .500 and back to the playoffs after missing last year.

Hardwick credited the work the team did during the offseason and how it will only help them have better chemistry going into the season.

“We incorporated three different fall leagues. We were Eagles Landing, Newton, and Heritage [Fall Leagues],” Hardwick said. “We have never done three fall leagues and that was to build team chemistry. It is extremely important to maturate your team in that way, especially before the season starts.”

Senior Kendarrius Spear will be one of Alcovy’s key returning players from last season.

Spear will play an even bigger role this season due to the loss of Ben Hodges, but the senior guard is confident that this year’s team can cross the threshold and get into the playoffs.

“I feel like we are game ready, we might be young, but everyone is in tune with each other and we are ready,” Spear said. “With everyone’s head level, I feel like we are good enough to go to state this year.”

Along with Spear, the Tigers will be utilizing two freshmen, Andrea Jernigan and Jakori Pinelle, who Hardwick spoke very highly of heading into the 2022 season. Jernigan and Pinelle will both share time between the freshman, JV, and varsity teams to maximize the potential of the two young players.

“Jernigan and Pinelle are big names for this program. With these guys being freshmen, they are already there,” Hardwick said. “Pinelle is very fast…and he can play defense with the best. Jernigan is the opposite; he is an offensive phenom for a freshman.

The Tigers will stay in Region 3-AAAAAA but the shake up within the region will provide a whole new slate of opponents for Alcovy to battle with.

With the departure of Grovetown and Evans, the Tigers will have new matchups against Forest Park, Jonesboro, Lovejoy, Morrow and Mundy’s Mill.

As the Tigers get ready to make a new push for the playoffs, Hardwick sees this year as a chance for Alcovy to show the state what they are made of.