The Carthage Tigers are gearing up for the 2016-17 basketball season after reaching the district semifinal round last year and finishing 11-16 overall.
They finished 3-6 in the COC-Large last year, looking up at Nixa, Branson, Webb City, Republic and Ozark. This season, Carthage will bump up to a Class 5 classification.
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“We have challenged our players to improve this off-season regardless of who we are playing or where we are playing them,” said Carthage head coach Steve Ray. “Obviously moving to Class 5 will present some challenges. However, we feel like competing in the COC-Large will prepare us for the rigors of playing at the Class 5 level.”
Carthage graduated three-sport stud Alex Derryberry, who led the team in almost every statistical category (16.2 PPG, 4.5 APG, 2.4 SPG, 1.5 3PG). Derryberry’s absence will be noticed, but Coach Ray believes his team can collectively fill the void.
“Alex was a special player and a tremendous leader who really carried our program at times over the past three years,” Ray said. “Replacing his production on the floor will be extremely difficult. But I think just as important will be the need to replace Alex’s leadership and energy in practice.
“I don’t think we will approach the season with the idea we have to have one player replicate what Alex did for us. We need our guys to feel comfortable in their roles and allow their confidence to grow to be productive players in our system.”
There will be plenty of varsity returners for the Tigers, including a pair of junior guards in Chase Johnson and Arkell Smith. Johnson and Smith were the two leading scorers behind Derryberry and can provide boards and steals in addition to scoring points.
Johnson and Smith, along with senior Taylor Emery, return as full-time starters from last season’s backcourt.
Senior Garrett McAtee will be called upon to patrol the paint at 6’4”, as he is one of the tallest players on the roster. McAtee led the team with 4.5 rebounds per game last year. He’ll have to work back from a pair of knee injuries, but should serve as a big contributor in his senior season.
“[McAtee] provides us some length and athleticism on the floor,” said Ray. “Garrett is a versatile player who can play in the paint and also play on the perimeter. Garrett missed nine games last year with a knee injury and unfortunately he has battled another knee injury this fall. We are optimistic we will get Garrett back this season but it is still unclear if and when that may occur.”
Ray identifies Carthage’s “lack of size,” and the bump up in Class as potential challenges, but something his team can overcome with effort and energy on both ends.
“There are a lot of unknowns with the group as a whole,” Ray said. “We return three full-time starters in Chase Johnson, Arkell Smith and Taylor Emery. Those three pieces are good building blocks to our season. However, the ultimate success or failure of this team will likely be the production and play of our other varsity players on both ends of the floor. We will need to be disruptive on the defensive end of the floor to neutralize our lack of size. Offensively, we will need to execute more consistently and find ways to score against the best teams of our schedules.”
