By Brennan Stebbins (For OzarksSportsZone.com)
For the third straight year, the Carl Junction boys basketball team showed some improvement on the court.
The Bulldogs finished 7-19 overall after winning six games in 2019-20 and five games in 2018-19. And, Carl Junction went 3-6 in Central Ozark Conference play en route to a ninth-place finish. That was the most conference wins for the school since joining the COC.
“Last year as the season went along we just got better and got confidence in what we were doing,” said head coach Justin Pock, who’s entering his second year at the helm.
“It’s a tough conference as everyone knows,” he said. “I felt like we kept fighting through and started to build some things that hopefully we can continue this year.”
As it looks to take another step forward this winter, Carl Junction must replace four seniors from last year’s squad, including Alex Baker, a third team COC selection who also earned All-District honors. He averaged 12.6 points per game as a senior while grabbing 7.8 rebounds and averaging better than two assists and a steal. Sincere Williams added 10.3 points per game, 2.5 rebounds and 2.3 assists. And Blake Poorman averaged 5.8 points and five rebounds per game while also blocking 14 shots.
“Alex Baker is just a phenomenal kid and he shows it in everything he does,” Pock said. “He was the leader on the football field, in baseball and in basketball. He was really solid for us last year. That senior class came in and did some good things and really started coming together towards the end of the year.”
The Bulldogs have two returning starters in seniors Kyler Perry and Josh Cory. The 5-11 Perry can play either guard spot and scored 6.3 points per game as a junior along with 3.2 rebounds, 2.8 assists and 1.4 steals. Cory is a 6-2 forward or post player who scored 10.5 points per game and was second on the team in rebounding with 4.9 per game. He was the team leader with 14 blocks.
“They both had decent years,” Pock said. “Josh missed some time with some sickness but he really started coming on and had some big games for us throughout the season. He’s a tough kid, a solid kid in the post and he’s an aggressive physical presence for us. Kyler had some moments last year as a guard. We had other guards who helped him along the way and this year he’s going to have a chance to run our offense. He’s been in the program all four years and he can be a good leader for us. He’s very capable of knocking down three’s and pushing the ball up the floor for us.”
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Junior Ayden Bard returns with a lot of varsity experience, too. He was the only player on last year’s roster to appear in all 26 games and he averaged 2.2 points. He’s an athletic player listed at 6-2 who’s grown in strength and can play in a lot of different spots both at the basket and away from it.
Two others also return with varsity experience in Jaden Cherry and Ky Warren. Cherry is a senior who saw time in 23 games and averaged 4.1 points and 2.2 rebounds. Warren is a junior who appeared in 13 games and totaled 13 points, 10 rebounds and five steals in 78 minutes.
The rest of the roster will be filled by sophomores and juniors and Pock expects competitive practices as the team sorts itself out.
“We have some sophomores and juniors that can do different things, it’ll be an open competition for them,” he said.
With only a handful of returners with varsity experience, Pock said a focus early in the season will be gaining more experience for the roster and building from that so the team hopefully plays its best basketball towards the end of the season.
That was the case last year when the Bulldogs started the season 1-10 but finished 6-9. Six of the team’s 19 losses were by single digits, and Carl Junction also fared well in several close games, winning four times by five points or fewer.
Carl Junction will open the season with a home jamboree including Carthage and Mt. Vernon. The regular season opens Nov. 29 at the Forsyth Tournament and the team will also join the Mustang Classic in McDonald County before Christmas, and the Kaminsky Classic in Joplin in early January.
“I want people to come out and support us,” Pock said. “This team’s going to play hard. I think every night we’re going to answer the call and play as hard as we can and hopefully make CJ proud.”
