By Jim Connell (For OzarksSportsZone.com)
As the New Covenant Academy boys basketball team tries to build on an 8-16 finish last season, the team is hoping an experienced core is enough to build on.
The Warriors went through something of a youth movement last season, with a large group of sophomores playing key roles. That group is largely intact, giving third-year coach Bill Hudgens some weapons to work with.
Leading that charge are the two scoring leaders from last season, in a pair of 6-foot-4 juniors – Cameron Altena and Tim Smith. They will be third-year starters for NCA. Smith was a second-team all-league pick in the Mark Twain Conference, with Altena making honorable mention.
Smith averaged 17.9 points per game and 5.1 rebounds per game as a sophomore, shooting better than 53 percent from the field. Altena averaged 10.3 ppg last season. Another strong contributor is expected to be 6-foot-3 sophomore Keaton Gamble, a second-year starter who averaged 6.5 points per game as a freshman.
“Those three are my shooting package,” Hudgens said.
An intriguing name who will get an opportunity to make an immediate impression is the 5-foot-11 Luke Han, who was at the school last season but did not play basketball.
“He will be a point-guard type,” Hudgens said. “He was at the school and the kids know him and know what he’s about.
CLICK HERE FOR THE WINTER SPORTS PREVIEWS
“He will be counted on to handle the ball for us and take it to the basket. He’s not selfish at all, he’s good at dishing the ball and spreading it around.”
The experience his young team picked up last season, plus work in the offseason and summer, has Hudgens feeling optimistic about the Warriors.
“We’re pretty solid,” Hudgens said. “One of our focuses this year as coaches is to make sure we really come together as a group and make sure roles are filled. We are doing several leadership-type things to help that along.
“With the experience we have, we have time this year to work more on the mental side.”
One of the team’s untested young players who could make an impact is Isaiah Wells, a 6-foot-1 junior. He played on junior varsity last season, but will get an opportunity early with the varsity squad.
“He has done a great job working in the offseason,” Hudgens said. “He’s a little small to be a post player, but that’s his fit. He’s real athletic and has a very muscular body.
“He’s done a lot of work in the offseason on his post moves around the basket.”
The Warriors lost in the first round of districts last season, falling to Morrisville.
With no clear-cut favorite in the Mark Twain Conference, Hudgens expects his team to be in the mix.
“There’s seven teams in that conference, and the top four are kind of a jumble,” Hudgens said. “With us, School of the Osage, Bradleyville and Hurley, anything can happen.”
The biggest concern for Hudgens is on defense, where the team has had problems with consistency and lapses in intensity.
“We’re going to be able to score the ball,” he said. “Sometimes we have trouble stopping other teams from scoring, but we’re able to put points on the board.”
