The final year of the Bloomfield Hills Lahser Knights boys basketball team should be a pretty memorable one.

Defending league and district champions, the Knights have the chance to be one of the best hoop squads in the area this winter before merging with Andover next year to become the Bloomfield Hills Blackhawks.

The mega-talented junior trio of Yante Maten, Armand Cartwright and Khalil Gracey return to lead Lahser into battle this season. Maten is a 6-foot-8 monster in the paint and the top post player in Oakland County. Cartwright is the Knights' point guard and pacesetter, a heady backcourt general with added hops to his game who is just as deadly scoring the rock as distributing it. The sleeper of the group is Gracey, a super-smooth 6-5 wing with a quick first step to the rack and a master stroke from both midrange and outside. After a banner sophomore campaign, Gracey is ready to erupt this winter.

Seniors Martez Jones, Andrew Gikas and Kyle Riley and junior Xavier Reynolds will be the Knights' other major components in their quest for repeat crowns in 2013.

Jones is a do-it-all shooting guard, while Gikas and Riley are gritty forwards set to help Maten anchor a tough-as-nails Lahser frontcourt. Gikas will most likely be playing football at the D1 level in college. Riley moonlights as a star pitcher on the baseball diamond.

Reynolds is a steady back-up for Cartwright and Jones in the backcourt and a boost of energy off the bench.

Corralling a title in the OAA Gold last year, head coach Duane Graves – entering his third season on the sidelines – and his Knights move up to the OAA Blue Division this winter and will compete against Birmingham Seaholm, Farmington Hills Harrison, Farmington, Lake Orion and Berkley for first-place bragging rights.

"These guys are motivated and love to work hard," said Graves of his team. "We have one more year of experience under our belt to learn from and that's going to help us a lot going into our new division. I think everybody is excited about the challenge that awaits us and the prospect of what we might be able to accomplish this year."