By Brennan Stebbins (For OzarksSportsZone.com)
A senior-laden Carthage boys basketball team went 16-11 last season for the program's fourth straight winning season, and head coach Nathan Morris hopes that becomes the standard.
"We had six seniors who ended up being huge for us, but we were unsure about a few of those guys helping and then Dylan Pugh broke out and had an amazing season," Morris said. "It was great to have that fourth straight winning season. It's something we hope becomes the standard. Now looking back it's huge we lost those six seniors because they all played and we've got to replace quite a few guys."
Pugh (12.4 PPG, 4.7 REB, 1.7 AST) was a unanimous pick in the Central Ozarks Conference west division, and classmate Kruz Castor (9.1 PPG, 2.4 REB, 3 AST) earned second team COC honors.
The Tigers will move forward this season with three main returners in seniors Landon Ray, Jordan Brunnert and Zane Browning. Ray averaged 11 points and nearly 5 rebounds while also blocking 30 shots in 27 games; Brunnert scored 5 points a game with about 2 rebounds; and Browning appeared in 18 games and made 11 of 14 field goals attempted.
"Landon was kind of forced into a starting role as a sophomore and got to play along with his brother who was a really good player," Morris said. "Landon's been through it all and now it becomes a new role for him. He was crucial last year but now he's our main scorer, probably our best defender as well and needs to take on even more of a scoring responsibility than he did last year as our second-leading scorer. He's not a point guard so the ball's not in his hands all the time and we've got to find different ways to get the ball in his hands, particularly on the block with his length, but he can also step out and shoot the ball really well. He's gotten stronger and a little longer as well and he'll have to be more of an aggressive player than he is normally.
"Jordan is the complete opposite, he's ultra-aggressive at all times," Morris said. "He had moments last year where he'd get hot and had multiple games hitting three 3s in one quarter. We need more of that from him, and we also need him to get downhill and use his strength. He's going to be an all-state linebacker, he's a really good football player and we need him to use his strength and size, something we don't normally have a lot of, to be more aggressive than just shooting 3s."
Browning, who quarterbacks the football team, is the definition of "tough and competitive", Morris said.
"We play him as a center and he's pushing 6-2 but Zane is tough as nails and he's defended guards that are smaller, he's defended guys 6-7, 6-10. He can really bother guys in the post because he loves to be physical. He took on a little more of a scoring role this summer. He's not really looking to score unless it's off the right play and he helps us because he makes the right play most of the time."
Varsity experience will be thin for the rest of the roster. Junior Henry Laytham, "an absolutely elite soccer player" will be a great leader for the team and the true point guard; he saw action in 5 games last season but will now be tasked with taking over for Trenton Yates, who led the team in steals and averaged about 9 points, 3 rebounds and 4 assists.
"Henry is 6-1 and long and when he gets the ball he can get to the other end of the court with amazing speed," Morris said. "He'll have some growing pains as a point guard in the COC. We didn't utilize him a lot as a sophomore, but he has a chance to also be a lockdown defender with his length, speed and his IQ. He's not a pure shooter but he can get into the paint anytime he wants. We really need Henry to be a producer and get the ball out to his teammates and get us into our offense."
Senior Cooper Jackson is a guard or stretch four who played in 5 games last year. He can shoot and is a really good defender, Morris said. Junior Jonah Barrett had an "amazing" JV season and is the team's best 3-point shooter. Junior Carson Womack would have helped at point guard but will miss the season with a football injury. Sophomore Oliver Crouch and freshman Jace Shepherd will be in the mix there.
"There's definitely some unknowns but it's also exciting," Morris said. "Going into last season we had Kruz Castor starting for three years to draw every team's best player. We're searching to see what exactly our identity is going to be. I think these guys know from our last few senior classes that we have to play as hard as we possibly can and be great in running our sets. That's what Carthage has to be. We've picked up this motto of 'be different.' We're not going to be the biggest team but if we're willing to be different and be great defensively and execute our sets, that's what we have to do to win. It'll take some time for our guys to mesh together but we have a group of really good kids who will buy into what our coaching staff is preaching."
Carthage will join Lamar and Carl Junction in a Nov. 20 jamboree hosted by the Bulldogs. The Tigers open the season by hosting Nevada and then host the 79th Annual Carthage Invitational Dec. 11-13. That tournament will feature local teams Webb City, Joplin, Nevada and Carl Junction as well as Shawnee Mission South, RUSH, and a new Link Academy squad.
Carthage will also travel to Arkansas to defend its title in the Harrison Tournament around the holidays.
