As the lights fade on another season for the Whitehall boys basketball team, the focus will now shift to what’s on the horizon for the maroon and gold, and that future should hold a lot of promise.

After finishing 13-11 overall and 8-8 in the Eastern Pennsylvania Conference this season, the Zephs can build on that success that saw them make the District XI playoffs and winning one game before bowing out against Bangor in the 4A quarterfinals.

They also had a number of highlights this year, with the most significant being their series sweep against Allentown Central Catholic. They also won a late-season game against Emmaus that helped cement their seeding in the district playoffs.

Those wins helped boost a young team’s confidence and serves as a building block for next season.

The optimism for the upcoming season is rooted in one simple fact: They’ll return their entire roster next season. In prior years, head coach Jeff Jones had to worry about where their points would be coming from when they assembled for the following season. Not so this year. They’ll have everyone one on board and that’s a rare luxury to have.

“It’s exciting knowing that you have 100-percent of your offense coming back,” said Jones.

Jones put in terms of sheer numbers, noting that Mikey Esquilin’s 253 (including playoffs) points return, as do Logan McGinley’s 306 and Charles Hudson’s 269.

While those three provided the bulk of the scoring, Jackson Buskirk (214 points) and Zach Gilbert (189 points) will also be back to give the Zephs their full complement of starters. Both players were instrumental in helping the Zephs defeat Southern Lehigh in the opening round of the D-11 playoffs.

Additionally, three-point specialist Kayden Walschburger will be back as well. Of Walschburger’s 136 points this season, 90 came via the three.

They’ll also return Devin Martinez (87 points) who gave them muscle and attitude inside, as well as Kasai Harrison (17 points) who saw time at guard this season.

They’ll also have their reserves back, with Eric Johnson, Braxton Marrero, Nick Herman, Jordan Harrington and Ethan Parvel all looking to expand their roles next season.

Jones said that he expects everyone to mature and grow as players, which will make them even deeper as a team next season.

“You hope that they give you what they gave you last year and maybe more,” said Jones.

He said that there’s no substitute for experience and they’ll be able to step right in next year and hit the ground running. They’ll also incorporate some new faces as well, cashing in on another successful junior varsity season.

“Hopefully, that will pay dividends as well,” said Jones.

Jones also knows that they’ll continue to have to overcome their size disadvantage inside when they play against teams in the EPC.

“That’s not going to change,” said Jones. “We’ll try and do different things; that’s all we can do.”

Still, this team showed they can overcome a lot of that disparity as evidenced by their inclusion in the district tourney.

Jones said that they meet with each player and go over what that player’s strengths are as well as what they have to work on to get better. Those meetings are the first step in getting the program ready for the following season.

While it gives them something to work on in the offseason, it also stokes the fires of the head coach who is anxious to get on the practice floor as soon as possible.

“I’m excited to start right now,” he said.