Viking boys have incentive by Joey Martin - posted Thursday, October 25th, 2012 @ 1:17 pm  E-mail Story |  Print Story  For the first time in seven year, Vidalia High's boys basketball team failed to make the playoffs last season. Vidalia, the 2009-10 Class 2A state champion, finished 10-19 last season. "We've been anxious to get started again," said Vidalia High boys basketball coach Robert Sanders. "We had a good summer. Sanders returns junior Michael Whitley, who led the Vikings in scoring with 12 points a game, while also dishing out five assists and averaging three steals. Junior Isiah Thompson averaged 9.5 points and 1.5 assists per game. In 2005, Vidalia lost to Ferriday in their final regular season game to miss out on the playoffs. Before that, the Vikings went through another seven-year stretch, not making the playoffs in 1998. Sanders will be counting on seniors Zalon Parker, Trashone Mays and Dee Whitley. Other juniors are Terrell Virgis, Dalvin Brown and Garrett Henson. Sophomores are Johnny Anderson, Deion Brown and Charles Johnson. Julius Wilson is the lone freshman. "We really won't know a lot until we get our football guys in," Sanders said. Vidalia will scrimmage Ferriday and Franklin Parish in Ferriday on Nov. 8.