By Jordan Burton (For OzarksSportsZone.com)
Lamar is under new leadership with Heath Heckadon taking over the Tigers.
While Lamar is known for its excellence in football, the basketball program has quietly won five district championships in the last 11 seasons. While they don’t return much experience from last year’s 17-12 district championship team, this group is hoping to continue that trend.
“I came to Lamar seven years ago to take a break from coaching,” said Heckadon. “When I got here Coach Powell talked me into coaching again. Lamar just has special student athletes. They all know how to work hard and they are winners. This bunch of boys will be so much fun to coach. I have been a head coach at Chilhowee, Windsor and Crest Ridge before now. This will be my 20th year of coaching basketball at the high school level.”
Senior guard Joel Beshore is the lone returning starter and he’ll run the show for the Tigers. As a junior he averaged nine points and two rebounds. He’s also an All-Stater on the gridiron.
Classmate Austin Wilkerson – another All-State football selection – was a part-time starter last year, along with junior guard Ian Ngugi. Ngugi averaged six points and 2.4 assists as a sophomore. Heckadon loves Wilkerson’s athleticism and defensive ability while Ngugi is a true point guard and floor general.
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Seniors Ty Willhite, Jaxson Hearod, Jase Dillon and Cameron Sturgell will also see varsity minutes.
Junior Khiler Nance, as well as sophomore Alex Wilkerson, Trey Pittsenbarger and Luke Tabakian, will all add depth and compete for varsity reps.
Some things will look a little different under Heckadon as Lamar could see a little quicker tempo game then fans have been accustomed to.
“Offensively we will play up pace and try to spread the floor for our athletes to make plays,” said Heckadon. “Defensively we will play a lot of man and zone depending on the opponent.
“I’m taking over for Coach Powell who did a great job at Lamar. The groundwork has already been set for us to succeed. The only thing I will add is on the defensive end, if you want to play you will guard, rebound and communicate. For a Class 4 program we are going to be small. We must defend and rebound, along with staying healthy. We can’t afford to lose any key plays to contend for conference and district. As you know with Lamar and football, I will get most of my players late and they will be beat up from football so we will be better in February than in December.”
Lamar will jamboree in Joplin with East Newton on Nov. 17 before opening the 2022-23 season on Dec. 6 at Webb City.
