By Michael Cignoli (For OzarksSportsZone.com)
Though last season didn’t end the way any of them wanted, a senior-heavy Branson boys basketball team enters a new year with plenty of reasons to be optimistic.
The Pirates were heading toward their first winning season since 2015-16 when one of their players tested positive for COVID-19 and the entire team was quarantined. Then came a week of snow days, effectively nullifying any momentum the team generated prior to the shutdown.
The Pirates finished 11-14, losing to Ozark in the first round of the district tournament. But with his entire core returning, coach Mike Linehan believes better results await Branson this winter.
“I believe that all of that bad luck happening to us last season has just made the team hungrier this season,” Linehan said. “There is no doubt in my mind that we would have continued our winning streak mid-season if we had been in the gym during that three-week stretch.”
The Pirates ended last season starting five juniors — Kyle Scharbrough, Kade Goodwin, Ethan Jones, Colton Cooper and Pilot Ascone — who are among eight seniors on this season’s roster.
“Our biggest strength will be our experience,” Linehan said. “These kids have played a lot of basketball and this team is senior-loaded, so I expect that our experience will lead to a confidence and poise that will make us successful as we will no doubt face several challenges this winter.”
Scharbrough (all-conference, all-district) and Jones (all-conference) both earned postseason honors last season and have only gotten better, adding new dimensions to their games.
Scharbrough grew to 6-foot-3 in the offseason and is getting even taller.
“He has worked very hard to improve his athleticism and now has the ability to play above the rim,” Linehan said. “He has the ability to create his own shot, as well as get to the rim. He has a nice outside jumper and is able to shoot off the move, the dribble and from long range.”
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Jones, who missed a significant portion of last season with an injury, is an explosive finisher around the rim who has worked to improve his conditioning so he can hopefully remain healthy.
“When he is shooting in rhythm, I’ve never coached a player with the ability to score as quickly as he does,” Linehan said of the three-year starter. “There have been several games over the past two years where he has dropped 15 points or so in one quarter.”
Goodwin is a 6-foot-4 athletic post player who averaged 14.6 points and seven boards per night. Linehan said he will be a strong candidate for postseason honors after being snubbed last year.
“He really has a knack for getting to the ball on the offensive boards,” the coach said, adding Goodwin really stood out in conference play. “He had several games last season where he would end up with 18-20 points and 10 or 12 would be from crashing the offensive boards.”
Cooper is another three-year starter who excels at both ends of the court.
“He’s our leader and defensive stopper,” Linehan said. “He’s 5’11 but plays like he’s 6’4. He rebounds very well and can see the floor and makes great passes. He tends to be our defensive engine, but often is our engine on offense as well.”
Ascone is a 6-foot-1 utility player who played his way into a starting role with solid defending.
“He is a very strong and athletic player that plays the shooting guard or small forward position,” Linehan said. “He can really shoot when his feet are set and in rhythm.”
Ascone, Cooper and Scharbrough also missed time last season with injuries. But with all of them healthy, the goal is to finish toward the top of a challenging Central Ozark Conference.
“These guys have been playing together for a long time,” Linehan said. “These guys played travel ball together in elementary school as well. They had a good group of dads teach them the game and take them to plenty of tournaments and leagues every year. You can see the experience in their high basketball IQ as well as their friendships on and off the floor.”
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Fellow seniors Tristan Pierce, Jack VanSickle and Jameson Brawner will help the Pirates absorb the loss of partial-year starter Brady Blackwell and other role players who graduated.
Juniors Justin Gill, a 6-foot-3 center, and Aden Dang, a 5-foot-10 point guard, may also see time.
“This is really a next-man-up situation,” Linehan said. “The guys we graduated were a group of kids who added nice size, depth and character, but we have good young players who will give this team additional depth.”
Those underclassmen include brothers Tristan and Peyton Bough, the sons of Branson girls basketball coach Kip Bough, as well as Skyler Ashford and Jace Culver.
“With us having eight talented seniors and two juniors all deserving of playing time, it will be very difficult to juggle additional young players into the varsity rotation,” Linehan said. “It is a very nice problem to have. We are finally at the point here in Branson where we have multiple kids — at every grade level — talented and skilled enough to compete in the COC.”
A lot of that can be attributed to Branson’s growing youth basketball program, which Linehan and his coaching staff have helped develop over the past several seasons.
“I started coaching here five years ago knowing the youth had been neglected,” Linehan said. “That was no secret, so my staff and I decided to tackle it ourselves. We all coach youth teams each year and teach them the fundamentals as well as our varsity systems. We have built some great relationships with the dads who volunteer coaching our youth as well. They are willing to teach our systems and drills and it is really starting to pay off. If you look at our upcoming teams, they are all winning. The junior high coaches are doing a nice job of teaching our offensive and defensive philosophies as well as preparing our young athletes for high school basketball. It has been very hard work, but it is paying off.”
Following a November 16 jamboree at Reeds Spring against the Wolves and Hollister, the Pirates will open the regular season November 23 at home against Lebanon. They will also host the Battle at the Border and compete in the Blue and Gold and 87th Liberator tournaments.
Branson’s COC opener is January 11 at Ozark.
“This group has grown so much from their youth basketball days until now,” Linehan said. “They used to rely on Ethan to do a bulk of the scoring. Now, Kyle and Kade often take over games, getting 20 or more points multiple times last season. They have always been successful, but this season, we all believe that they are capable of doing something great. If they continue to make progress with our defensive system and always play as a team, we have the potential to do something great.”
