By Derek Shore (For OzarksSportsZone.com)
“Getting hot at the right time,” as the cliché goes, served as a true testament for the East Newton Patriots’ 2015-16 season. East Newton pulled off a string of six straight victories to earn its first district title in 40 years, upsetting top-seeded Lamar via a last-second shot.
With a new season comes roster turnover, and the Patriots had plenty of it, including the hiring of a new head coach in Ethan Baker. Overall, East Newton saw the graduation of four starters who accounted for 34 of the 39 points in the district title game.
Baker even admitted this winter will be a youth movement after losing forwards Ethan Helig and Tyler Winsaur as well as guards Josh Harris, Jake Patterson, and Dalton Zimmerman.
“We will only have two seniors coming out,” said Baker. “The majority of our roster will be made up of sophomores and juniors, who will be thrown into the fire from the get go.
“Though, I find it fitting for a first-time head coach to take over a young team, allowing a chance for us to grow together.”
Junior Caleb Jackson is the top lone returning starter and top scorer among East Newton’s returnees, averaging seven points over 20 games last year. Jackson, a 6-foot-2, guard, started towards the end of last season while collecting three rebounds and three assists.
“I’m looking for him to continue to mature and become a seasoned point guard,” Baker said, “as well as a leader we can count on to make good decisions and take care of the ball.”
Despite being plagued by injuries for much of last year, Dustin McDermott showed off his promising skill-set in sectionals, ending the year with a ten point outburst against Fair Grove.
“We are counting on him to step up and take on some of the scoring load that we lost,” Baker said. “He is a skilled point-forward, who we have to be able to utilize in creative ways.”
Rounding out the returnees is the lone senior lettermen – Coleman Booker. Booker, a 6-foot-1, played in every game as a junior and averaged two points, two rebounds. Baker likes what he brings to the table.
“I would definitely consider Coleman our toughest and most physical player,” he said. “We will depend on him to bring his passion and intensity to every practice and game to show our youngers guy how hard they have to work day in and day out.”
East Newton possesses a wealth of newcomers this upcoming season, including senior Eric Putnam 6-foot-1, juniors Preston Walker (5-foot-11) and Mathew Braiser (6-foot-1), and sophomores Colton Ball (5-foot-10), Bryce Camber (6-foot-0), Davis Turner (5-foot-9), and Ethan Hailey (6-foot-4).
Baker said he didn’t get to see Putnam much during the summer, but is one, who could carve out a varsity role this winter. He also stated Walker has the frame to challenge post bodies with guard skills on offense. Braiser was injured during the summer but is anxious to see him healthy.
Ball is one of the better overall athletes on the team and has a good shot, per his coach. Baker hopes to help him improve his ball-handling and finishing ability before the season. Camber was more of a post player in the past, but will transition to a guard position. Turner is a quick guard that provides energy on the floor, and Hailey will provide a much-needed big body for the Patriots, who is mobile for his size.
So, how much will the style of play alter with so much turnover?
“Offensively, we are striving to be aggressively patient,” Baker said of the change in philosophy. “Over the summer, we worked on developing the cornerstones of spacing, player movement, and ball movement. We’ll continue to work on these three elements and stress proper shot selection.”
“Defensively, we’re still debating on what philosophical approach to take. All we want is a style that allows our team the best possible chance to compete with the best teams on our schedule.”
Baker views Lamar “as the team to beat” in the Big 8 Conference this year. Aside from the Tigers, he said the rest of the conference should be evenly matched, but there are a lot of unknowns with multiple teams losing a multitude of seniors. He also mentioned Lamar as the team to beat in the district tourney as well.
But…
“If we can develop together as a team from November through February,” Baker said. “We have just as much potential to win games as anyone else.”
East Newton opens the season at home against Clever on Nov. 22. They are slated to host Lamar on Jan. 10.
