By Derek Shore (For OzarksSportsZone.com)
The Cassville boys basketball team has seen its win total increase the last two seasons, including last year’s 13-15 campaign being the Wildcats’ winningest season since 2019.
Entering his second season at the helm, head coach Caleb Reynolds looks for his 2024 squad to take the program another step forward.
“I’ve really enjoyed getting to work with this group of young men,” Reynolds said. “Last year we were loaded with seniors who had played varsity since they were sophomores and had improved every year. We were able to translate that experience into one of the best seasons Cassville has had in several years. This year’s group doesn’t have the varsity experience yet, but they’ve played a full season in our system, they know what’s expected of them and they are hungry to compete.”
It starts with 6-foot-8 senior post Jon Dunbar. Dunbar, an all-conference and all-district performer, averaged 9.2 points and 7.8 rebounds last season.
“Jon was probably our most consistent player last season,” Reynolds said. “He clearly improved as the season progressed as both his scoring and rebounding numbers increased during conference play. In fact, he led the Big 8 West in rebounding.”
Eli Stokes, a 6-8 junior forward, joins Dunbar inside to give the Wildcats the biggest frontcourt in the Big 8 West. Stokes averaged five points and pulled down nearly five rebounds as a sophomore last year.
“Eli was our first post player off the bench as a sophomore, even starting a couple games when needed,” Reynolds said. “We expect him to be a regular starter this season. He put in a lot of work this summer to improve his overall game and seems like he’s really getting confident in his abilities. He and Dunbar should complement each other nicely and be real matchup problems in the post.”
On the perimeter, 5-11 senior Trevin Baker, will call the shots at point guard for Cassville. He contributed four points and dished out two assists after coming off the bench and being primarily the team’s sixth man last season.
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“We’ll expect multiple guys to handle the ball, but Trevin will be the one running our offense more than most,” Reynolds said. “He’s coming off an unfortunate shoulder injury from last spring, but he seems to be bouncing back well and has done a good job filling an important leadership role for us.”
Cadyn Smith (6-2 senior guard), Ethan Bohmke (6-5 junior guard/forward) and Simon Gates (6-0 junior guard) are poised for expanded varsity roles. The three started on Cassville’s JV team last year and Reynolds said the trio showed improvement throughout the season.
“We expect Cadyn to play an important guard role for us, sharing the ball handling responsibilities with Trevin,” Reynolds said. “Ethan will also handle the ball some, and with his length and athleticism, we expect him to be a matchup problem for most teams we play as he can score over smaller players and is quick enough to get by shot blockers.
“Simon was easily the best 3-point shooter in our program last year as a sophomore and we expect that to translate to the varsity level this year. We’re excited for all of these guys to play large roles with our varsity this season.”
Instilling a defensive philosophy in the program, Reynolds was pleased with the early results on that side of the ball in his first season. Cassville held opponents to a school-record 49.6 points per game last season.
Reynolds hopes that same defensive effort translates into greater offensive production this winter.
“We take a great deal of pride in our defense, and it showed last season,” Reynolds said. “That defensive effort was important because we didn’t have tremendous firepower on the offensive end. But between our strong post play and a lot of hard work put in by our guards on their outside shooting this summer, we expect to see marked improvement on offense.”
As for season expectations:
“We expect to be playing our best basketball in March,” Reynolds said. “We have a talented team with limited varsity experience — how quickly we can learn and adjust to the speed of the varsity game will determine what our final record will look like. Regardless of our final record, we expect to improve as the season progresses and build on the successes and accomplishments from last season, putting ourselves in position to accomplish even more this year.”
Cassville opens the season in the Strafford Invitational on Nov. 27.
