AMBOY – With a tough non-conference schedule and a tougher slate of Northwest Upstate Illini Conference South opponents, the Amboy boys basketball team had a difficult season in terms of tallies in the win column.

But throughout the season one comment always associated with the Clippers was, “They work hard.”

No one showed it more than senior Troy Anderson, who was named to the NUIC South Second Team.

“It’s much deserved. No one is going to outwork Troy. No one beats him to the gym, and no one stays later than he does,” said Amboy coach Brad Dunlap. “He has put in a ton of hours in the last three years I’ve had the chance to coach him. He’s an incredible kid and an incredible person.

“He really, really deserves it. Even though his numbers don’t show it all, he had a huge impact on a lot of games. A lot of other coaches saw and that’s why he was voted on the all-conference team. It’s not just what our coaching staff saw, others noticed.”

Anderson, a student at Ohio High School, finished the season averaging 7.8 points, 6.2 rebounds, 1.7 assists, and 1.5 steals per game.

Although Anderson will not be there next season due to graduation, Dunlap is hoping his work ethic sunk into some of the returning Clippers as they’ll try to improve on this season’s 4-27 record and change the culture of the program.

“Obviously, everyone wants to win. We’ve had this conversation with the team. There are just different levels to it. We want to get to a level where it’s expected in practice and in games,” Dunlap said. “This year, we had a lot of ups and downs. We had a good schedule. We played six teams that ended the season in the Top 20 of the state rankings. It’s not like our schedule was a cupcake.

“That’s what we want. We want to play the best because we want to be the best. It starts with our attitude in practice. We have to have mental toughness to finish tough games. We had a lot of games where we were hanging in there against good teams. Then we would go up and down like a roller coaster.”