Phillip Gambill enters his seventh season at Crocker coming off of a 15-13 season, which was one of the best seasons for the program since 2008.
“Last season was one of the best seasons since the 2008 season. Our guys won 15 games overall and won several close games that came down to the end of games. After beating Stoutland in the first round of districts, we lost in the semifinals to Newburg. I thought our guys put themselves in a position to be successful last season by their hard work and the time they put into making them better,” Gambill said. “In conference play, we struggled from time to time, winning three conference games. We had several road conference games last season, which played out to be a few of our toughest road games of the season. We only lost one home game last season, (Licking) and felt we did a great job at home last season.”
The Lions lost their leading scorer in Blake Neuman (15.5 ppg) to graduation, but return four players that averaged at least eight points per game.
Senior leadership and depth will be strengths for this year’s version of the Lions.
“We are coming into the season with 10 seniors. We will definitely have a new look with different rotations we can go to at any time. Almost all of our seniors have varsity experience. Out of the 10 seniors, three are returning starters and two have earned post season accolades (all conference, all district). This group of players is a special group. We are expecting our experience along with our roster depth to be key factors this season. This group of kids have played together since they were younger. They work well together and understand their roles within the team. We have roster additions to go along with our group this season, which we have not had in previous seasons. We have a group of guys who are excited about the upcoming season,” Gambill said.
Senior Adam Shockley is the top returning player after averaging 14.1 points per game as a junior last year. He also accounted for 3.8 assists and 3.6 rebounds per game.
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“Adam is a special player and he has great leadership qualities. He runs the floor, an extension of the coaching staff. He has a natural IQ for the game,” Gambille said.
Ethyn Boorom is the Lions’ other returning double-digit scorer after he put up 11.4 points per game last season and led the team in rebounds at 9.9 per game.
“Ethyn is an exceptional athlete,” Gambill said. “He can score inside and out. With his athletic ability, he will be expected to take up some of the slack from graduation last season.”
Nathaniel Combs and Logan Wright are two more key seniors returning. Combs, who has improved his ball handling and scoring, averaged 9.3 points per game last year. Wright, who is an active player that pulled down 16 rebounds in one game last year, is back after averaging 8.1 points and 8.1 rebounds per game. He also shot 55% from the floor.
“(We want to) continue to build from our successes last season,” Gambill said. “We are have both experience and a deep bench. We hope to use this to our advantage on both sides of the ball.”
Crocker opens its season on Nov. 18 against St. Elizabeth in Waynesville.
