By Brennan Stebbins (For OzarksSportsZone.com)
Last season’s Carl Junction boys basketball team got off to a 9-7 start before dropping eight of nine to finish the year with a 10-15 record and leave the Bulldogs still in search of their first winning season since 2014.
Now the Bulldogs will turn to Cort Hardy as the program’s new head coach. Hardy comes to Carl Junction after coaching Seneca the last two seasons (20-9 last year); before that he was an assistant at Webb City, so he’s familiar with the area.
“If you watched our teams over the past couple years, we play very fast, we’re aggressive defensively, we’re physical and you see a good team brand of basketball,” Hardy said. “When you saw our teams, guys aren’t averaging 20 a game. Most of our teams have guys averaging around 10 or 12 points a game and you see a good brand of team basketball and the ball moves and they play well off each other.”
In Carl Junction, Hardy sees a team that played several close games last season but couldn’t find a way to win late in contests. He’ll have a young roster to work with this season with only a couple seniors on the team.
“You saw the improvements and saw they were playing some close games, and they had some of the talent and players to do that,” he said. “That was part of what enticed me to apply for the job, just from watching them in local tournaments and games in our area. We’re excited about the team and possibly turning those close games into wins this season.”
Even with a relatively young roster, Carl Junction still returns four players with starting experience. Junior Brody Pant, a third team pick on the All-Central Ozarks Conference team as a sophomore, returns as the team’s leading scorer after averaging 14.6 points, 4.8 rebounds, 3.3 assists and 1.8 steals per game. Junior Cooper Vediz is back after averaging 12.6 points, 4.2 rebounds, 2.9 assists and 1.6 steals. Senior Wyatt McAfee comes back after averaging 7.5 points, 5.7 rebounds, 2.2 assists and 1.3 steals. And junior Deacon Endicott averaged 8.8 points, 6.6 rebounds, 2.1 assists and 1 steal.
“Cooper has had an impact since his freshman season,” Hardy said. “Deacon’s a really good player who came on late in the season for them last year. Brody I think surprised a lot of people last year and late in the season was averaging 15 or 16 a game. And then Wyatt, one of our seniors this year, he’s played a lot of varsity minutes and seen a lot of action. We’re encouraged to have those guys back. Cooper and Brody play on ball and off ball and either one of them can run the point. Deacon and Wyatt are forwards and guys that can post people up and score in the low post but they’re also a little undersized for the position and we use that to our advantage; drag some bigs out on the perimeter and that’s where those guys can do the majority of their work.”
Carl Junction returns another senior with varsity experience in Jett Mills, a quick and solid defender who “had a really good summer for us,” Hardy said. The Bulldogs also have a move-in from Joplin in junior JoJo Ballard, who’s “really long and athletic and very coachable.” Among the younger players who could factor in are sophomores Maddox Shorter (a true point guard who can shoot it well), Carson Anderson (a quick, athletic guard who can get to the rim) and Kolby Martin (one of the better shooters on the team who can also block shots). And freshman Bryant Hanks is another true point with a high basketball IQ who’s a good shooter.
“When we first got together last summer we were still trying to figure each other out and had a slow start, but later in the summer as we got more familiar we saw a lot of growth and strengths,” Hardy said. “Our guys who aren’t playing football have had a really good offseason. These guys are buying into what we want to do, competing really hard and putting in the extra time. I think the kids are ready to go and they’re eager to change the program and turn the tide for Carl Junction basketball.”
The Bulldogs will play in the Carthage jamboree on November 22, then compete in the Forsyth Tournament before opening their home slate against Nevada. Carl Junction is also set for the Carthage Invitational, Neosho Holiday Classic and Kaminsky Classic in Joplin.
They’ll play a different conference schedule this year as members of the newly-formed Ozark Mountain league, along with Branson, Bolivar, Hillcrest, Logan-Rogeresville, Marshfield and West Plains.
“We think it’s a really good basketball conference when you look top to bottom,” Hardy said. “Each team is going to be really competitive. We know going into each week you have to bring your A game in those conference games.”
