By Brennan Stebbins (For OzarksSportsZone.com)
When it comes to consistently winning year after year, it’s not just the football team doing that at Lamar.
In the last 10 years, the school’s boys basketball team has posted nine winning seasons and made it to eight district championship games. The Tigers won their fourth district title in that span last season and then knocked off New Heights Christian in the playoffs for the program’s first sectional victory since 1974. Their 17-11 campaign ended with a loss to Thayer in the quarterfinals.
“We knew we were going to be okay,” said head coach Heath Heckadon, now in his fourth year leading Lamar and 13 wins away from 200 for his overall career. “It’s always a struggle for us starting off the season, because of football we always get started late. We did have to deal with a few injuries last year, but we knew we had the athletes to make a run. The kids bought into what we wanted to do last year. Honestly, I didn’t know we could make a run like that but the kids put their heads down, wanted to do it and we were able to accomplish something they hadn’t accomplished in 50 years. It was pretty excited here in the town.”
Similar to the lead up to last season, Lamar has some key contributors to replace before taking the floor this winter with Alex Wilkerson (Big 8 All-Defensive team), Luke Tabakian and Trey Pittsenbarger all gone to graduation.
“The good thing is we’ve got kids that constantly play,” Heckadon said. “With our style of play, everybody usually gets to see the floor. I’ve got eight or nine guys returning with varsity experience who could honestly start for us.”
Senior Talon Timmons, senior Eli Ngugi and junior Jude Harris return with starting experience. Timmons (2nd team Big 8) was also honored on the all-district and all-area teams after averaging 14 points, 6.6 rebounds, 2.5 assists and more than 1 steal per game. Ngugi averaged 6 points, 1.5 rebounds, 1.2 assists and 1 steal and Harris, the point guard, averaged 7 points, 4.1 rebounds, 2.5 assists and 1.5 steals.
“Talon is going to be our returning leading scorer and the good thing about him is he could play all five positions,” Heckadon said. “He would rather play outside but he’s kind of that ‘tweener’ who can go to the post and post up well, he can shoot the ball well. He can make everybody around him better. He’s definitely a team player. Eli is a player a coach loves, he’s going to do the small things that aren’t always noticed but I can honestly say he’s probably our most consistent player. He’s not as quick as his older brother but he just does things the right way, he’s always in the right spot and he has a nose for the basketball. He can score inside and outside, and he’s got a good shot. Jude bought into his role last year of defending and finding open people. He can score when he wants, I’ve just gotta have him get that mentality that when it’s time he can go score. Probably one of our better defenders and he’s absolutely capable of taking over a game if he wants to.”
Junior Terren Williams (6 PPG, 6 RPG) is another key returner who was injured last season but returned late and started against Thayer.
“He’s going to be the one that protects inside,” Heckadon said. “He’s a shot blocker, he’s a rebounder, he jumps out of the gym. One thing we’ve got to work on Terren with is he’s got to want the ball on the offensive end and look to score. He kind of shies away from the offensive end; if he gets an offensive rebound, he goes back and scores but he’s got to look to score instead of looking to pass and being the secondary option.”
Other returners include senior Keaton Kinney, the team’s best perimeter shooter; senior Trenton Torbeck, a good rebounder and defender; junior Vance Breshears, a point guard with high energy; and junior Logan Martin, a physical big who needs to rebound and score.
“If Keaton’s open he can knock down a shot,” Heckadon said. “He’s just got to play with confidence and when he touches the ball he’s got to put it in the hole. If he doesn’t think and just catches and shoots I’d put him up against anybody.”
“Trent is an athlete who can run the floor, and he’s got that attitude that nobody’s going to take him,” Heckadon said. “He’s going to defend and rebound, and he can score but doesn’t always look to do it. As long as he defends and rebounds, I’m okay with that. I always tell him when he’s open to take a shot.”
Heckadon said he probably should have played Breshears more last season. “He’s that point guard type that sees the floor really well and just makes everybody else around him better,” he said.
Martin is built like an offensive lineman who can run, Heckadon said. “He’ll post up well and he’s got good size. He’s left-handed and hard to guard. At any point I can put Terren and him in the game together and we’ll be able to find a mismatch. He’ll start off and on depending on matchups.”
Sophomore Brayden Wolfe will likely play a lot of varsity minutes when he returns from a broken arm suffered during football.
“He’s going to be counted on as a sophomore to play,” Heckadon said. “He changes the pace. With losing Trey and Alex, they were our guys who got the ball and pushed the ball 94 feet. Brayden is that type of player, when the ball is in his hands he can change the pace of a game. Hopefully he gets healthy soon and he can be a difference maker even as a sophomore.”
Heckadon said while the Tigers have had a lot of players over the years who can play the fast-paced style of last year, what they haven’t had in a while is the size like this year’s roster possesses.
“Lamar hasn’t had a true big since Truman Kaderly (2019) back when Matt Powell was still coaching here,” Heckadon said. “It’ll be nice to have a couple true bigs and be able to play some different styles. Last year if we couldn’t get in transition we struggled to score. This year I think we’ll be okay in the half court set because we’ve got shooters, post players; an all-around group. We’re still going to want to play at a fast pace but when Logan’s in the game we’ll probably slow it down a little bit and play inside-out more to see if we can get teams in foul trouble.”
Last year’s sectional win is still providing a spark and leading to some lofty goals for the Tigers this season.
“In the kids’ mind our goal is to make it to the Final Four,” Heckadon said. “We got close last year and ran into an awesome Thayer team. In the kids’ mind, my mind, we want to win the district championship first and take it from there one game at a time, but our season goal is to make it to a Final Four which Lamar basketball has never done. We have some hefty goals with this group, and you never know how districts will be set up, we’ve got some good teams. It’s not going to be easy but definitely a goal we’ve set for ourselves and hopefully we can accomplish that.”
Lamar travels to Carl Junction for a Nov. 20 jamboree that includes Carthage. The Tigers open the season in the Gem City Classic and host Liberal on Dec. 16 for their first home game. They’ll also travel to the Walnut Grove Holiday Classic and the Stockton tournament.
Lamar’s coaching staff will look different this year with Heckadon’s youngest son Riley (a former Lamar player) moving back to join his dad on the bench. He’ll coach the freshman team and assist the junior varsity along with Heckadon’s other assistant Jacob LaSalle.
