By Robert Hudson

The Selma Times-Journal

The Dallas County Hornets boy’s basketball team is looking to take the next step for the 2011-2012 season.

Coming off a 26-5 season that saw them finish in the regional tournament, head coach Willie Moore said the Hornets are looking to finish on top of Class 4A this year.

“Our goals are like they are every year, to be able to go out and compete hard every night and our goal is to win the area championship, regional championship and go to the final four to compete for the state championship,” Moore said.

The Hornets will open the season on Friday, Nov. 18 at Booker T. Washington Magnet School.

Moore said the Hornets will look to get a lot of their young guys some experience as the season goes on.

“We’ve got a lot of new guys that we’ve got to get some game experience, but we do have some talented guys, we just have to get them experienced,” Moore said.

Moore said the Hornets’ greatest strength is a talented big man and floor general at point guard.

“We’ve got good point-guard play and we’ve got an outstanding post player to work with,” Moore said. “I feel like we’ve got a good inside-outside presence working for us. In basketball that’s good to have.”

Moore said the Hornets’ starting point guard Jibrail Hayes is set to return after missing most of last season with an injury.

“We’re very excited about having our point guard, Jibrail Hayes, back,” Moore said. “He tore his knee up last year and we felt going into last year, had he been 100 percent healthy, we had a team that could go to Birmingham and have a chance to win a state championship.”

Moore said even though the Hornets had a lot of success without Hayes last season, they still could have used him in some key situations.

“When he went down, that was a big loss, although we did win a lot of games without him,” Moore said. “But there’s always that one game where you need a pure point guard, and he is that. He’s done a terrific job for us the last two seasons and we’re looking forward to him having a breakout senior year.”

Down low, the Hornets will depend on Division I prospect and sophomore William Lee.

“William Lee is our 6-foot-8 post player,” Moore said. “He’s a sophomore, and he’s being heavily recruited by ACC and SEC schools. He’s had offers from the SEC and the ACC, so his future is very bright. He’ll be our bell cow inside for us this year.”