The Eureka Springs Highlanders had the kind of season most teams can only dream about in 2021-22: The Highlanders went undefeated in conference play on the way to a regular-season conference championship, then won district and regional tournament titles as well before advancing to the second round of the Class 2A state tournament.

Graduation hit the Highlanders hard. Gone are Eureka Springs’ all-time leading scorer and three other seniors, including one who was a three-year starter. But that doesn’t mean the Highlanders will be starting from scratch this season.

Senior Dylan Johnson returns after earning all-state honors last season while setting a school record with more than 100 three-point baskets. And the Highlanders will continue to hold a size advantage most nights with 6-11 senior Shane Holloway anchoring the inside.

Johnson transferred to Eureka Springs before last season and wound up playing a key role in the Highlanders’ success. Holloway missed several games at the start of the season as he finishing rehabbing a knee injury but came on strong by the end of the year.

Coach Brian Rambo said he’s been “pleasantly surprised” by the Highlanders’ performance over the summer.

“You never know what you’re going to get in terms of all the guys that we lost,” Rambo said. “We lost four really valuable seniors last year, played a ton of minutes for us. We were returning some scoring, but especially Shane, he only gets to play about half a year. And so his role was vastly different than it’s going to be. So you just didn’t know what you’re going to get into. But I was pleasantly surprised. Those two guys really, really stepped up and have been great leaders for us. We played well at times and then we got beat by some bigger schools, but for the most part at our level, we played really well. So I’m optimistic for sure about next season. We’re not as deep. So that’s a concern. But I think we’ll be pretty good again. So I’m excited.”

Johnson did much of his damage along the baseline during the regular season but took on more ball-handling responsibility during the postseason as teams tried to pressure then-senior Matthew Lester. Johnson played some of his best basketball in the state tournament, scoring 40 points in two games — including 15 in the second half of the Highlanders’ 58-50 quarterfinal loss to Magnet Cove.

Rambo said Johnson will continue to handle the ball more this season.

“We did some things this summer in terms of point guard,” Rambo said. “We’re replacing a three-time all-stater in Matthew Lester, so we kind of went point guard by committee but Dylan definitely stepped up in the sum mertime and did a great job handling the basketball. He’s not as shifty as Matthew, not as athletic, but he does things his own way in terms of, he’s bigger, he’s more physical. He’s got a great basketball IQ and so, I would expect a lot of things to go through him offensively in terms of handling the basketball and playing off the ball, too.”

Junior Michael Lester — Matthew’s younger brother — has also played well this summer, Rambo said.

“His game is totally different than Matthew’s,” Rambo said. “He shot the ball much this summer than he did last season. He’s got to work on his ballhandling a little bit, but he’s so athletic and so strong. He really stood out this summer.”

Senior guard Elijah Williams was impressive on defense, Rambo said.

“He doesn’t score the ball a lot,” Rambo said. “But he’s really active. He anticipates really well … getting hands on the basketball, getting deflections, being really disruptive.”