Prospect Spotlight: Jonah DeRoos (2020)
Jonah DeRoos has aspirations of capping off his Siouxland Christian career with his best season yet. While it’s been a bumpy ride for the program recently, DeRoos has managed to be one of the team’s top scorers the past two seasons. Improvement was made in Year 1 last season under head coach Nelson Wilson, as the Eagles finished 8-14. With momentum heading into the season, DeRoos and Co. could be in the running for a Western Valley Conference title with the chemistry this team has returning.
“I’ve just learned that hard work always pays off,” said DeRoos. “When we’ve done things as a team, we’ve bonded better. For myself, I played on a travel team this summer and my skills overall have just gotten a lot better. I just need to keep encouraging the guys to play their best and do what I need do so we can win games.”
The 6-foot-0 guard, who led the Eagles with an impressive 17.9 points per game, also led the way with 50 steals and recorded 44 assists last season. DeRoos finished third in the conference in both scoring and steals.
“Right now he (DeRoos) is playing with a lot of confidence,” mentioned head coach Nelson Wilson. “He’s got great ball-handling skills and he sees the floor very well.
With DeRoos’ presence and improvement on the floor, Wilson mentioned that he will draw a lot more attention from opponents this season. In the offseason, he played on the AAU Circuit with Showtime Hoops where it helped him improve his skills. Those skills include being able to dribble through traffic better, moving the ball around better with his teammates and shooting with his extra time spent in the gym.
DeRoos, along with teammate Christian Heilbuth, will look to lead the Eagles to their first winning year since the 2016-17 season.