By Jordan Burton (For OzarksSportsZone.com)
Nathan Morris has quickly turned around Carthage Basketball in his four seasons as head coach.
The Tigers are coming off of a 14-12 campaign, Morris’ second season over .500. Carthage had just two such seasons in the previous nine seasons prior to Morris taking over.
Carthage will be facing a bit of a rebuild, returning just two starters. But, the Tigers are more talented than paper would suggest, with senior guard Justin Ray leading the way.
Ray averaged 12.7 points as a junior, knocking down a team-high 53 3-point FG. He’s rapidly approaching the 1,000-point mark for his career.
“Justin will end this year with the most career varsity games played at Carthage, surpassing Alex Martini; all but two of those games he has been a starter,” said Morris. “He has had a backseat role to Joel Pugh and Max Templeman in those years but now this is his team. We have a small senior class with only two on the roster and he really embraced owning this team starting in June. By nature, he is a quiet kid but without much prompting from the coaches he has become a different kid as our vocal leader as well.
“We have some really good young talent around him, but they all know and understand that we go as he goes. Justin has been labeled as a “shooter” for years, but his game is so much more than that. We finally got to see the other parts of his game this summer and fall and I think he surprised people by his ability to make plays for he and his teammates. His goal is to play college basketball and I think coaches will start to take notice in December.”
Juniors Trent Yates and Kruz Castor also return for Carthage.
Yates is a 5-foot-10 guard that will replace All-Everything guard Max Templeman at point guard. Castor is a 6-foot-2 wing that is a high-level defender and athlete.
Both will take on much larger roles this winter.
“Last year Trent would play alongside Max but now this is his team to run,” said Morris. “Trent has similar attributes to Max in that he can get the ball into the paint to collapse a defense. He may have better vision once in the paint and can really step out and get hot from outside shooting. We expect Trent to be one of the top point guards in southwest Missouri.
“Kruz is a special athlete. As a sophomore, we had him guarding the other team’s best guard some nights and an all COC center the next. He is a very strong young man but has the feet to play on the perimeter. Kruz improved his game a lot to where we now feel confident in him pushing the ball in transition some.”
Morris is also excited about several newcomers that will see minutes this year. There won’t be much size on the roster, but there is an abundance of guards and shot makers.
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Senior Jack Ryder returns after taking last season off. He’s a scrappy, gritty wing that will instantly add toughness.
A trio of juniors will also compete for reps.
Twins Colt and Dylan Pugh are a pair of guards that have a reputation for knocking down shots, much like their older brother and former Carthage standout Joel Pugh.
Classmate Taylor Stevens-Diggs will be the “big” for Carthage this year.
He’s just 6-feet tall, but at 225 pounds he has the strength and athleticism to compete with bigger posts.
Sophomore guard Landon Ray will also see more action this winter. The 6-foot-2 guard is the younger brother of Justin Ray and shares his ability to shoot the ball, but also has similar length and athleticism.
“We include our entire team in scouting reports and most film sessions from Day 1 so that even as freshmen they see what goes into preparing for varsity games,” said Morris. “Obviously, that doesn’t mean you step on the court 100% ready to play at the varsity level but having that preparation and mentality can really help. It will take some time for our younger guys to mesh and gain that needed experience but our leaders, Justin, Kruz and Trent will help steady us until we hit full stride.”
Many of these guys were around last year with Carthage competing at a high level with many of the top programs in the area, losing to Nixa by two, Joplin by two, Republic by six and Central by eight.
Carthage beat Ozark, Webb City and Willard.
The Tigers lost seven games by six points or less. This group saw what it took to play at that level and now they’ll look to move forward in yet another great year of basketball locally.
“We are going to be undersized again, as we are most years, but we’ve accepted and embraced the style of play that we need to compete,” said Morris. “We had a really good summer and fall and saw some success against really good competition. Most years, we don’t put a lot of stock into that, but I think it meant a lot to this new group to see how our season can be.
“Our guys will need to take it day-by-day, and understand that after you play one perennial power, that there is another fantastic program coming into town next. We adopted the saying “close the gap” two years ago and our program feels we have done just that and they’re ready to take another step this season in the COC and one of the best districts in the state of Missouri.”
Carthage will host Carl Junction, Mount Vernon and Seneca on Nov. 17 in a jamboree before opening the 2023-24 regular season on Dec. 1 at Monett.
