Clarke’s boys basketball team finished last year with a mark of 2-20. But, that record was deceiving.
The season could have easily gone a lot differently for the Indians, with several games that could have swung either way.
“We had three guys (on this year’s team) that played in a lot of those games,” head coach James Larson said. “They know why. It was missed free throws and rebounding. That was basically it. If we got rebounds, we would have been fine. If we had made our free throws, we’d have won a lot more games. We were 76 points away from being 10-12. We were right there. We were very close. We’ll build off of last year, knowing we can compete.”
And compete is what Larson wants to do this year. He and his team are focusing on end-of-game situations and strategies, hoping to be able to break through and win some of those close games this year.
“I want to compete every single game,” he said. “I said that last year, but we’re really going to focus on the strategy this year. We just didn’t know how to win last year. This year, we’re going to focus on end-of-game situations and strategy. I feel like that’s going to help us get over that hump.”
Young team
This year’s edition of the Clarke boys basketball team will feature a wealth of youth.
A majority of the team is freshmen and sophomores. Larson noted that it’s possible his team could feature four sophomore starters.
Gone from last year’s team are four of the top six scorers, including Colin Morris, who led the Indians with 20.9 points per game. Jared Jamison, who led the team in assists, is also gone, as is top rebounder Brin Evins.
“We’re still trying to figure out who is going to score, who is going to rebound. All those sorts of things,” Larson said. “We basically have to reset. We lost everybody who led us in every category.”
Sophomore Troy Morgan is the top returning scorer at 7.6 points per game. Senior Carlos Tamayo scored 7.0 points per game a year ago.
“Troy Morgan will definitely help,” Larson said. “Carlos Tamayo comes back. He’ll be one of our defensive specialists and his shot has gotten better for sure.”
Sophomores Grant Wishon and Brandyne Olin return to provide a post presence.
“Grant Wishon is someone who has definitely gotten a heck of a lot better,” Larson said. “I don’t think he missed a single day of open gym. He’s gotten taller, he’s gotten better footwork. He’s definitely going to be a force to be reckoned with.”
Two newcomers in Bowan Ellis and Gabe Crawford provide the Indians with added size.
“They add some size and some rebounding for us, which is one thing I say is probably number two on our list of most important things,” Larson said. “So I’m really excited about those guys, because they can give us some physicality and some rebounding.”