By Chris Parker
Cassville boys basketball has a new head coach in Mike Ray this season. Ray is a veteran coach with 16 years experience as a head coach and 27 years in the profession overall.
He inherits a program looking for its first winning season since 2019 and its first district title since 2011. Turning that trend around comes down to off-season work according to Ray.
“Simply put, basketball needs to become important to the players in the off-season,” Ray said. “Without that, the skill level will continue to be below par for a Class 4 team. I have no doubt they want to have success, but that success is built in the off-season.”
Tyson Bohmke is the lone returning senior on the team.
“Tyson has a good shot and is active on the offensive and defensive ends,” Ray said. “It is a tough situation for him, as he is the lone senior and with a coaching change, but he has worked hard. We will need him to take ownership of this year’s team.”
Juniors Cheney Kelley, Carlos Barrientos and Jaren Stearns all played roles on varsity as sophomores.
“Cheney is a quality shooter and steady guard who we will need to improve his ball handling skills to take the next step for us. He is someone who we think can help build a culture here as he has leadership skills,” Ray said. “Carlos is an excellent athlete with great instincts on the court, and so this year he will garner more attention from other teams and he must adjust. Carlos has the skill to be an excellent high school player but sometimes he gets in his own way, which we are working with him on. Jaren is steady and athletic and hoping he can take a step forward for us and be a leader defensively.”
Chase Ruark, Masin Bryan, Easton Hughes, Wyatt Hollingsworth, Preston Driscoll, Daniel Frazier and Grant Varner all played junior varsity last season and are in the mix for varsity playing time this season.
Freshmen Aiden Whittington, Spencer Drollinger, Brayden Phillips and Jayden Ritchie all will look to make immediate varsity impacts.
Elijah Keeney is a move-in from Southwest (Washburn) who will be a factor.
Cassville will look to overcome a lack of size and experience with effort on both ends of the floor.
“(The) biggest strength we hope will be a maximum effort on defense, and also with a lack of experience among the players, we expect to have competitive practices,” Ray said. “Since the summer, we have really focused on individual skill level of ball handling, shooting, and decision-making, so we will need to continue to improve on that. A lack of experience could be a factor early in the year, a lack of size which will be new to Cassville after the graduation of Eli Stokes, and then for the players and coaches to adjust to each other and a new system.”
Cassville opens the season Dec. 1-6 at the Strafford Tournament.
“By the end of the season, we want to establish a culture of finding players who want to get better and are willing to put in the time to get better,” Ray said. “We also want to establish mental toughness to handle when things do not go as planned. We believe there is a core here to get those things done and to bring some excitement to the boys basketball program.”
