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There’s not much Kickapoo’s Anton Brookshire can’t do on the basketball court.
The sophomore can score, distribute and defend just the way any coach would like it.
“He’s our point guard, he runs the show,” said Kickapoo Head Coach Mitch McHenry
It’s not his 18.3 points, 5.3 rebounds or 4.2 assists per game that make the biggest impact on the Chiefs.
“He’s been a leader really since he stepped into our program,” McHenry said.
Perhaps the biggest test of Brookshire’s leadership came last year.
An injury ended his freshman season and the Chiefs lost all seven of their remaining games without him.
“It was kind of tough on me because I was taking the pain of seeing my team losing and there was nothing I could do about it,” Brookshire said.
Even through those struggles, McHenry says Brookshire remained as involved as ever before.
“When a guy goes through that they could very easily check out, but he was very much in tune with the game and emotional about games,” McHenry said.
There was also a positive for Brookshire to take from all that time spent watching from the sideline.
“It gave him a different perspective and a different glimpse of the game of basketball and leading a team,” McHenry said.
Even still, Brookshire needed to overcome the mental hurdle of returning from injury.
“My first couple games I was kind of hesitant like should I do this type of jab step but now I’m over that,” Brookshire said.
He’s over that and onto a very good sophomore season as the Chiefs have started the year 7-3.
“We have good energy, we talk on the floor. I think my biggest job of being a leader is bringing the guys together,” Brookshire said.
Whether it’s bringing his team together or hitting a game-winning shot, McHenry knows his point guard’s potential can’t be contained inside a gym.
“He’s just going to continue to take off, and he’s going to continue to grow, and that ceiling, that potential is going to continue to rise with him,” Brookshire said.
