AUSTIN, Texas – In nearly a year since they last played an official game, the Concordia Texas men's basketball team, who return with a pair of starters, will be back in action on Jan. 14, opening the season at home against Belhaven.
 
The Tornados, who reached the American Southwest Conference Tournament quarterfinals last season after garnering the two seed out of the west division, will have eight returners, five sophomores and three juniors, back for the upcoming year.
 
In the conference preseason poll, CTX earned 101 points and were picked to finish third in the west division. The program will look for their sixth consecutive top three finish in the west division.
Head Coach Stan Bonewitz, who is entering year 17 as leader of the program, believes his team has a mixture of veterans and newcomers.
 
"I'm excited about the group we have this year," Bonewitz said. "I feel like we have a nice compliment of returners with new players who will give us a chance to be competitive."
 
Luis Gonzalez, Trevon Hester, and Alexander Estrada, who were highlighted on the conference's preseason Players to Watch list, look to spearhead the Tornados' backcourt in 2021.
 
Gonzalez, entering his second year with the team, was the 2020 ASC West Division Co-Freshman of the Year, posting 11 points per game on 42.1% shooting from behind the arc. After providing valuable minutes from the bench for the first 10 games, Gonzalez found himself in the starting lineup in 15 of the last 16 games to close out the season. He recorded four 20-plus point games, including a career-high 27 points against Illinois Wesleyan on Dec. 29.
 
Hester was a 2020 ASC West All-Freshman Team selection last season after averaging 6.2 points and 1.9 assists per game. Hester saw an increasing number of minutes as the season went on, proving himself to be a productive member of the backcourt. His breakout game came at Belhaven on Jan. 11, as he put up 19 points, three assists, and three steals. Hester will look to build upon his promising freshman campaign in 2021.
 
Estrada, one of the three upperclassmen on the team this season, averaged 6.2 points per game and shot over 40% from three-point land last year. On January 4, Estrada posted a career-high 18 points on 4-of-6 shooting from beyond the arc against Ozarks. Estrada will look to turn in another strong season for CTX.
 
Zaid Harris and Spencer Bone, two more key players, also add to the team's returning strength.
 
Harris, another member of the Tornados' deep backcourt, started 16 games last season. He turned in eight double-digit scoring games and averaged 1.7 assists and 1.5 steals per game during his sophomore season.
 
Meanwhile, Bone, a career 41% shooter from behind the arc, will look to score in bunches from deep for CTX.
 
With such a young team, Bonewitz is pleased to see his returners take steps into becoming leaders on and off the court.

"I think early on in practices we missed the voice of our senior from last year Ronnie Hamilton, and the steadiness of our other senior Phil Meikle," Bonewitz said. "A couple of the returners have begun to realize that they need to step up and take ownership of the practice environment so we can continue to move in the direction we were headed at the end of last season."
 
The Tornados will start the season at home after its first two scheduled games of the season were canceled due to COVID-19 related issues, hosting Belhaven on Jan. 14 followed by a matchup against Louisiana College on Jan. 16. 
 
The Tornados are playing a shortened season consisting only of conference games, and nine of 15 of these contests are at home. They will finish the regular season with a home-and-home against the ASC West favorite Mary Hardin Baylor, traveling to Belton, Texas on Feb. 25 and then hosting the Cru at home on Feb. 27.
 
Bonewitz knows this has been an unusual situation for his program, but believes they have made the best of a tough situation.

"The delay has been challenging. Without a true pre-season and limited time for coaches to meet with players, it has just been slow," Bonewitz said. "It's been impressive to me to see how our team has been able to practice now for several months with a pretty high level of intensity and engagement, knowing they didn't have a game to prepare for this fall. But I'm not worried, we'll get where we need to be in that area as the season progresses."

The Tornados will look to reach their ninth consecutive conference tournament and claim their first ASC championship since 2013, opening the season on Thursday, Jan. 14 against Belhaven inside Concordia Fieldhouse at 5:30 p.m.