After going 2-22 last year, the Wellsville-Middletown boys basketball team hopes to turn things around this winter with a new coach.

Josh Albregts takes over head coaching duties for the Tigers, replacing Steve Lasman, who was named the W-M girls coach after Todd Cripe retired following the 2023-24 school year. Albregts, a Troy Buchanan graduate, comes from Wright City, where he coached the boys soccer team for two years. He will be coaching high school basketball for the first time at W-M.

Albregts will take over a W-M team that has six returning players from last year. They are seniors Cooper Henderson, Gage Marshall, Jonah Slovensky and Brennan Cash and sophomores Gage Nichols and Shane Joles.

Henderson was the only W-M player named to the all-Eastern Missouri Conference team as he earned second-team honors. He and Marshall have been with the W-M program since they were freshmen.

The other players include junior Isaac Todd, sophomore Willard Shireman and freshmen Chandler Parker, Brandon Murphy, Garrett Poage and Olyn Davis.

Last year, the Tigers had just seven players on their team, four of them – Slovensky, Cash, Nichols and Joles – were playing in the high school level for the first time.

W-M lost its first eight games before beating Community R-6 in the consolation semifinals of the New Franklin Tournament for its first win. The Tigers’ other win came against Norborne in the consolation championship game of the Keytesville Tournament.

W-M lost its final 11 games of the season, finishing with its first 20-loss season since 2012. It also finished with its second straight losing season.

Albregts said he hopes his team will get back on the winning track in his first year as W-M coach.

“They’re going to be a disciplined team,” Albregts said in August. “That’s something I do bring to the table and that’s something I do demand. We’ve got a couple of guys who are talented and everything, but they’re going to have to come into my mindset as well. I’m going to mold them and grow them as well. The future is the prize, but we’re going to focus on this year, one step at a time.”

The Tigers will start their season – and the Albregts era – at 7:30 p.m. on Nov. 26 against Community R-6. A year ago, W-M lost to the Trojans 55-37 in their season opener.

The Tigers added games against Missouri Military Academy (Dec. 12) and Paris (Jan. 16) to their schedule. Both games will be played on the road.