By John Miller (For OzarksSportsZone.com)
The cupboard isn’t bare for the Marionville Comets, but it certainly looks different.
One year after going 24-4 and posting a 6-1 mark in the Mid-Lakes Conference – good for second place – only one starter and six lettermen return. Gone are guards Cole Brown, Brandon Horn, and Levi Doyle, and big-men Nic Dean and Aaron Head. Brown is playing junior college baseball for North Arkansas and Head is playing NCAA-II baseball for Southwest Baptist.
While the losses of those five players will be huge, the Comets hope to fill their void with a combo of strong returners and newcomers.
Headlining the list of returners is junior Josh Goodman, who averaged 8.9 points and 2.2 rebounds last year. “Josh returns as one of our best scorers,” said Comets’ coach Ted Young, who carries an overall coaching record of 424-191 in 24 years on the sidelines. “We will look for him to continue that this year.”
Also returning is junior Gavin Stanton, the team’s lone returning starter. Last season, Stanton averaged 2.1 points. “Gavin has put in a lot of work in the offseason and we’re really excited to see his hard work pay off,” Young said.
The only returning senior letterman is Ryan Mayberry, who averaged 4.6 points and 2 rebounds last year. “Ryan is a very strong kid,” Young said. “We will need him to be a leader day in and day out. We expect big things out of our senior leaders.” Other key returners for the Comets include Laythen Utke and Dominick Clevenger.
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Marionville will also depend on the play of three newcomers: junior Wesley Breedlove and sophomores Matthew Goodman and Kale Bateman. “Wesley is a hard worker and has some good quickness,” Young said. “We hope he can give us good minutes this year. Matthew is a tough kid that can shoot it. We expect him to continue to get better, and Kale is a tall athletic kid with a lot of strength.”
Last year, the Comets averaged 56.9 points per game while shooting 45 percent from the field, 33 percent from 3-point range, and 64 percent from the foul line. One of their strengths was ball-handling, as they averaged 14.4 assists and only 10.9 turnovers.
“We hope to compete at the highest level each game and do the little things right each and every night,” Young said. “We want to be able to defend at a high level, rebound, and take care of the ball each night. Teams like Fair Grove are really good, but it’s a dog fight each night in our conference. We have to be disciplined and be physically and mentally tougher than anyone else.”
The Comets open their season on November 21 at Pierce City.
