By Dana Harding (For OzarksSportsZone.com)
Lockwood basketball experienced a banner year last season.
The Tigers posted an impressive 23-2 record before falling to Golden City in the district championship game.
Head coach Ethan Baker was pleased with the season, even though it ended sooner than he’d hoped.
“Last year was a great year,” Baker said. “We won our home tournament. We won the Stockton tournament which consists of mostly class three and four teams. We were able to win the Southwest Conference for a second year in a row. Unfortunately we were unable to win our district, but I stand by that we had a great year as a program. I was very proud of our group.”
A quintet of talented, graduated seniors depart the program in Max Schnelle, Blaine Garver, Spencer Neal, Brayden Hamilton and Dylan Gallup.
Schnelle, a 6-foot-4 wing, earned all-state honors.
“Max has been the conference Player of the Year the past two seasons and has led our team in almost every statistical category,” Baker said. “He received all state honors last year, as well. On top of that, I truly felt like he was a coach on the floor.”
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Lockwood will be led this season by a trio of returning upperclassmen in Kane Cooper, Clayton Robertson and Eli Kerr.
Cooper, a 6-foot-5 senior, averaged 11.5 points and 5.0 rebounds last season.
“Kane is our only returning starter and our leading returning scorer,” Baker said. “He is a big-bodied kid that played a lot on the perimeter for us last year, but this season he will predominantly play out of the post.”
A 6-foot senior, Robertson returns after seeing action in 16 games last season for the Tigers.
“Clayton provided energy for us on and off the floor last year,” Baker said. “He will be part of a group competing for time at the guard position this season.”
Kerr, a 5-foot-9 junior, averaged 3.0 points last season as the first guard off the bench.
“Eli has played a mostly defensive/complimentary role during that time, but we look for him to make a big jump in production this year and become more of a scoring threat for us,” Baker said.
“We will have a lot of newcomers to the varsity rotation this year,” Baker said. “There is a lot of competition ahead that has to take place in order to hash out exactly who will be in the rotation.”
Lockwood’s varsity newcomers include Kamon Cooper (JR), Logan Wells (JR), Rayder Boyd (JR), Connor Lewandowski (SR), Dylan Snider (JR), Blake Cossins (JR), Hank Eggerman (SO), Nash McGuire (SO) and Henry Schnelle (SO).
With a host of new faces in new roles, Baker expects an adjustment period as players adjust to the varsity game.
“Most of the seniors last year had played at the varsity level since they were sophomores,” Baker said. “That was certainly an advantage for us at the time. Now, a lot of our season’s story will be about how we develop as a team and how quickly we can get that done.”
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Despite the lack of varsity experience, Baker believes his system will continue to pay dividends as he enters his third season at the helm.
“I believe we would be considered to play a gritty, old-school type of game,” Baker said. “We work hard to keep our posts involved in the offense and work to get the highest percentage shots we can.
“Defensively we have been a zone team that focuses on quick, precise reads and movements. We have tried to dictate the tempo of games by playing our brand of basketball consistently. We have enough roster turnover that I think it will take time to be effective in what we try to do though.”
Following a Nov. 16 jamboree at El Dorado Springs with Liberal and the host school, Lockwood will open its season at home Nov. 19 against Dadeville.
