By Denise Tucker (For OzarksSportsZone.com)
Salem boys’ basketball coach Conrad Prugh thinks his team’s size could result in some big wins this season.
Inexperience hurt the Tigers last year as they struggled to an 8-19 overall record and 1-6 in the South Central Association last year. The Tigers did pick up a 71-63 victory over Owensville in the Class 4 District 11 Tournament before getting knocked out by Rolla in the semifinals.
“We were about what we expected to be,” said Prugh, who is in his fourth year at Salem. “We knew we would be inexperienced at the varsity level, and that we play a tough schedule in a tough conference and even tougher district. So, wins were hard to come by and we knew that would be the case going into last year.”
Gone from last year’s squad includes Nate Bray, who is playing baseball in college.
“We will miss his athleticism and leadership,” Prugh said. “He struggled offensively last year, but was an above-average defender who kept everyone playing hard.”
Also lost to graduation are Lawson Toman, a “streaky shooter, who could score a lot of points in a short amount of time,” and Cody Rictor, an “athletic guard who really struggled to find his shot last year.”
Prugh will be counting on 6-foot-5 senior Jordan Shults, who averaged 8 points and 10 rebounds per game in 2017-18, to help lead the Tigers. Shults earned all-tournament team honors at the Sullivan and Owensville tournaments in addition to being named to the all-district squad.
CLICK HERE FOR ALL THE WINTER SPORTS PREVIEWS
“Shults has played some varsity for three years now and is very good defensively in the post,” Prugh said. “He blocks a lot of shots and gets a lot of rebounds, but must now become more of an offensive threat in his senior year.”
Reese Dotson, a 6-foot junior, will be asked to run the point guard position full time this year after averaging 6 ppg, 4 rpg and 3 spg last season.
“He has to take care of the ball and look for his shot more,” Prugh said. “Reese really had a good summer shooting the ball and started to show the leadership and confidence needed to play point guard.”
Prugh will be looking to 6-8 sophomore Lucas Morrison to step up this season. As a freshman, Morrison played on junior varsity.
“Lucas is a big-body kid who protects the rim and is improving with the ball in his hands in the post,” Prugh said. “If he and Shults play on the floor at the same time, there will be very few teams that will match our size on the inside. He has to finish around the rim for us to be successful.”
Prugh anticipates that size will be the key for the Tigers this season.
“Our strength will hopefully be our ability to protect the rim and score from inside,” Prugh said. “However, it will require good guard play to get our bigs the ball in the proper spots, and they need to be able to knock down an outside shot every now and then so that teams can’t just pack it in against us.
“I think we have some guards that will be able to do that and, if so, then we have the possibility of really creating some match-up problems for other teams.”
Salem opens the season against Rolla as part of the Rolla Tip-Off Classic on Nov. 17. The Tigers also will participate in the Sullivan, Owensville and St. James tournaments.
“I just want the guys to go out and never get outworked,” Prugh said. “We have a little more varsity experience this year at some key positions, but we have lost some depth on the bench and will have to get big minutes out of guys who haven’t played big minutes in the past.
“If we want to win any games this year, it will have to happen on the defensive side of the ball. We have to defend better and most of the time defense comes down to effort.”
