Coaches tell players to leave everything out on the court. Except victories, players want to take those with them.

The 2013-14 Northwestern varsity boys' basketball team left winnable games out on the hardwood.

"We left one or two wins out there that we should've had," head coach Dan Eddinger admitted in a phone interview. "Maybe a reason that happened is because we had an extremely young basketball team. If you look at it, we left a lot of wins out there on the table."

The Tigers finished their season with a 5-17 record overall and a 2-14 mark in the Colonial League, both of which came against Palmerton, which was winless in the league.

Although the team didn't surpass last year's win total and didn't qualify for districts, both of which were preseason goals, Eddinger doesn't think his squad regressed.

"I don't think we took a step backwards," he said. "When I look at it, I look at the program as a whole and this is the second year now where the lower levels had winning seasons. Obviously varsity was a little disappointing, but I think the program as whole is moving in the proper direction."

Going forward the team will be losing two of its top three scorers in seniors Collin Breidinger (6.68 ppg) and Kevin Markovitch (6.6 ppg) to graduation.

While losing Breidinger and Markovitch will create big shoes to fill, the rest of the Tigers normal starting lineup is expected to return and Eddinger likes that fact.

"We are returning seven guys that saw significant minutes," he said. "Anytime that you can return that many players from a team, that is important. It speaks volumes to what we can do next year."

Without Breidinger, the other four starters are slated to return as Josh Williamson (5.4 ppg), Taylor Breininger (6.5 ppg), Logan Schwartz (5.7 ppg) and Cam Richardson (6.7 ppg) are all juniors.

Other expected returners who made an impact this season are junior Matt Archer, sophomore Brady Mengel and sophomore Parker Jones. Jones led the team in three-point shooting, draining 25 shots from beyond the arc this season.

Eddinger admits that going forward someone will need to step up and be the next big man, to replace Breidinger, but as a unit, they all need to step up on the defensive end.

"It is always something that we need to talk about and work on," Eddinger said. "I think the most problems we had came when teams spread the floor on us. I think, as a whole, we took a big step forward defensively this year. I think we struggled and we have some way to go yet, but I thought we definitely learned a lot this year, but there is still a lot to be learned, in a lot of areas."

Moving forward Eddinger wants to see the scrappy play from his guys continue as they build on the core fundamentals from these last few seasons. Even though there is a lot for them to learn yet, more is going to be expected.

"I think the offseason is a big one for us," Eddinger said of the upcoming months. "When you return 11 of 14 from your roster it raises the bar a little bit. I think expectations rise. Now it is time that we meet those expectations this summer and head into next season, not as doormats anymore, but as a legit contender."