This season has been as kind as it has been unkind for the Cassville boys basketball team.
The Wildcats (7-6) are shaking off the holiday rust and focusing in on a conference and district slate that mirror one another, aiming to take a high seed into the postseason.
Cassville’s trajectory this season was going straight up early, with a five-game win streak, but as late December and early January hit, humble was the word with three losses straight.
Caleb Reynolds, Cassville boys basketball coach, said the team was playing well going into the Christmas break, but began struggling in games while outside the everyday school routine.
“We were inconsistent in doing the little fundamental things that we work on every day in practice during our Christmas break games, and we had been doing those things well before the break,” she said. “Our last game, even though we lost a close game on the road, we got back to doing those things better. I expect us to get things turned back around very soon.”
The Wildcats fell to Miami (Okla.) on the road Friday, 39-37, and dropped a close home contest on Jan. 3 to district and Big 8 opponent Reeds Spring, 28-26. A win over Mt. Vernon already puts the Wildcats at 1-1 in district play.
“That was a really tough game [against Reeds Spring],” he said. “We knew we didn’t play well, so that was a pretty disappointing result for us. The boys came in the next day at practice and really looked determined to fix the things that needed fixing though, and you love to see that as a coach. So even though that was a hard loss, we still feel good about the win at Mt. Vernon and we like our chances going forward.”
Cassville played at Seneca, another district foe, on Tuesday, with the result not available at presstime. Before those games, Cassville went 1-2 in the Neosho Holiday Tournament.
“While it didn’t count toward conference standings, it was certainly nice to get a win over another Big 8 West team in East Newton,” Reynolds said. “Both teams really competed and it was a great game. On the other hand, the fewer times you have to play conference opponents the better, and since three other Big 8 West schools were playing in that tournament, we will not be going back next year.”
On the floor, Reynolds said multiple Wildcats are making their impacts, led by senior Aidan Cook and his 14.3 points per game.
“He is also leading us in assists and steals at 2.6 and 2.7 per game, respectively,” Reynolds said. ”Junior Jon Dunbar is our leading rebounder at 6.7 per game, and he is our second-leading scorer at 7.6 points per game. These two guys were the leaders in stats for the team last season, so we aren’t surprised by their output this year.
“Other guys who are making an impact on the stat sheet are seniors Peter Littlefield, Hernan Hernandez and Caleb Leach, as well as sophomore Eli Stokes. All four guys are averaging over 5 points per game, which really contributes to our balanced attack.”
Not only do the Wildcats spread the points around — they also share leadership duties.
“Frankly, all of the guys I just mentioned have filled a leadership role at times, and other times they’ve all been followers as well,” Reynolds said. “The chemistry with this team is terrific, and it’s one reason that, even though we are a little frustrated with how we’ve played over the past few games, we’re still confident that we will get headed back in the right direction soon.”
On the slate coming up is Southwest on Friday at home, then the 38th Annual Spokane Tournament, opening as the No. 3 seed against No. No. 6 Blue Eye on Jan. 17 at 7:30 p.m. Other participants, in seed order, include: Ash Grove, Spokane, Reeds Spring, Southwest, Bradleyville and Exeter.
After that tournament, it’s all Big 8 and district opponents left.
“We’re taking one game at a time and making sure that whoever we are playing that night has our full attention,” Reynolds said. “Our conference and our district are both going to be competitive, especially since the whole district is made up of Big 8 teams. We feel we have as good a chance as anybody, and better than some, to be in the running for a conference championship and possibly the No. 1 seed going into the district tournament.”
