2020-21 Winter Preview: Hartville Boys Basketballl

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By Dana Harding (For OzarksSportsZone.com)

Last season couldn’t have gone much better for Hartville.

The Eagles captured the program’s second state championship in the last five years, defeating Skyline in the Class 2 title game.

Head coach Brett Reed also garnered postseason honors. Entering his ninth year at the school, Reed was named Class 2 Coach of the Year.

How do you follow up such a magical run?

Return almost your entire team and play an even tougher schedule for starters.

“We have a very tough schedule this season,” Reed said. “We will compete in the traditional Blue and Gold Tournament, as well as being invited to the Bass Pro Tournament of Champions. We have added several shootouts with some top ranked teams. We will be battle tested, every game has its own challenges and we simply will need to be prepared and focused night in and night out.”

Reed and Hartville will need to replace a single graduated senior in Holton Simmons, an All Summit Conference honoree.

“[Simmons] was a senior leader a year ago, was one of our best defenders and chipped in around 10 points per game,” Reed said. “His leadership and defensive abilities will be missed the most. His positive attitude and team first mentality was second to none and I will miss coaching him every day.”

With most of its roster returning, Hartville will once again look to a pair of Class 2 all-state senior honorees for leadership in Ryce Piper and Cody Mahan.

Piper, a 6-foot-3 point guard, averaged 17.5 points, 6 rebounds, 3.1 assists and 1.7 steals per game last season. As Hartville’s leading scorer, Reed expects him to have another big year.

Mahan, a 6-foot guard, averaged 9.6 points, 3.3 rebounds, 1.9 assists and 1.4 steals per game. Reed refers to Mahan as a very athletic, great on-the ball defender and great shooter.

The pair are joined by classmates Braden Branstetter, Eli Cook and Brady Ward.

At 6-foot-3, the all-conference honoree Branstetter was a big impact during postseason play down the stretch and is a great shooter that continues to get better on both ends of the court, according to Reed. He averaged 11.5 points, 2.5 rebounds, 1.3 assists and 1.4 steals per game last season.

The 6-foot-2 Cook also earned all-conference honors, averaging 6.9 points, 5.6 rebounds, 2.7 assists and 1.9 steals per game last season.

“A great team leader that makes us go on both ends of the floor,” Reed said about Cook’s play. “Continues to improve his outside range, anchors our defense and is a great passer.”

Called a great shooter and rebounder by Reed, the 6-foot-1 Ward garnered all-district honors and averaged 10.5 points, 4.6 rebounds, 2.0 assists and 1.0 steals per game last season.

Additional returning Eagles include Eric Wilson, Dalton O’Dell, Bryce Coday, Wyatt Williams, Josh Bettendorf, Jacob Ballad and Brody McNiel.

“We are looking forward to the season, returning nearly all of our players from a year ago,” Reed said. “We want to build off of last year’s success and continue to be hungry to compete each day.”

For Hartville to marshal another deep postseason run this season, Reed believes it will once again need to excel at the defensive end.

“We will continue to rely heavily on our ability to defend and rebound each night,” Reed said. “We will try to play an up tempo brand of basketball, while also being willing to strategize game to game for each opponent. We are unsure of our district and class at this time, but we will strive to be playing our best basketball come playoff time.”

Hartville opens its season Nov. 24 against Reeds Spring.

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