FAST START—Amite's Brandon Mitchell (23) dunks the ball between Mt. Hermon's Jaylen Briggs (42) and Chase King (1) in the Warriors season opener at the Sumner Cowboy Classic. Mitchell had four dunks scoring 14 points as Amite crushed the Yellow Jackets 66-37. (Photo, Gary Lee TangiHoops.com)

AMITE — Amite advanced to the Class 3A regionals in 2007-08 before losing to Port Allen.

To take the next step in 2008-09, Amite head coach Alvin Stevens is trying to get his team to step it up on the defensive end of the court.

"We talk about that every day," Stevens said. "There is no glory in defense. Your name gets in the paper for scoring points. It doesn't get in the paper for defense. You have to want to buckle down and want to play it. I think this group may have a little better attitude toward that. We're stressing it anyway.

"We are going to look for a lot of man and maybe do a few traps out of it. Overall defensively, I think we will be a little quicker than we were last year."

Amite returns three starters from its 18-10 team of a year ago — senior Brandon Mitchell and junior Thomas Hart in the backcourt and Brandon Perry in the front court. Edward Davis, Joe Mason and Byron Ricard will be among the corps alternating in the front court. Ricard had 18 points in the Warriors' 66-37 season-opening win over Mt. Hermon in the Jewel Sumner Cowboy Classic Thursday.

"They are all pretty good leapers so I think we will be OK," Stevens said.

The 6-foot-4 Mitchell was the District 10-3A MVP and a second team Class 3A All-State selection after averaging 17.5 points, seven rebounds and seven assists a game.

"I hope that will create some matchup problems for some teams and we can take advantage of it," Stevens said of Mitchell's height as a guard.

Joining Mitchell in the backcourt is Hart, a returning honorable mention all-district selection, Rondell Williams and Todd Mabry.

Amite is scheduled to play Kentwood in the Cowboy Classic championship game tonight. The Warriors have non-district games against St. Helena Central, Walker, Franklinton, West Feliciana, Tara and Pearl River as well as the Tangipahoa Parish Tournament at Loranger, the South Pike (Miss.) Tournament and the Plaquemine Tournament.

"It's pretty competitive," Stevens said of the schedule. "We have a few big games. The Plaquemine Tournament be a pretty good tournament as well as Tara and South Pike. We have some games that will challenge us before district. We'll find out what we need to work on."

Amite opens District 10-3A at Loranger Jan. 20.

"I think Bogalusa will be strong this year," Stevens said of his district predictions. "They have a lot of their players back and they were strong last year. I believe Albany should be OK and Independence should be improved. I think it will be Bogalusa, Independence and Albany and hopefully we are up in the running with them too."

Stevens is just getting many of his players back from football and said once they get in basketball mode, the Warriors should be in the hunt in district.

"I think we will be all right after we get a few games under our belt and play together," Stevens said. "We just got the football players Monday so we are just trying to get into a routine. As the season goes on, I think we will be OK. The district will be pretty balanced so we will have to play pretty well when the district rolls around.

"All I ask for the kids to do is to come out and play hard every night and give me the best they've got and what happens, happens."