The boys varsity basketball team is looking to carry the momentum of a bounce back season all the way to the ninth region tournament.
After they only won six games last season, they have 18 wins in 2023-2024 and are hoping to reach the ninth region tournament for the first time since 2015
The boys have won multiple district games for the first time since 2017-2018, meaning the Rebels are looking to be in good condition to reach regionals this year.
“We’ve kind of become a family and they work really well together,” head coach Nathan Browning said.
Browning credits his seniors for the turn around.
“I think it’s just our whole senior class that has changed the way we do things,” he said. “They’re holding each other accountable everyday pushing each other to get better.”
The success from last year to this year can also be attributed to improving on both offense and defense.
The team is scoring nearly 10 more points per game than last year, and Browning said that’s because the team is not relying on the three point shot like it did a year ago.
“We’re going inside more and scoring around the basket more,” Browning said.
The team has also improved on the other end with the defense allowing eight fewer points per game this year compared to last.
“They’ve bought into defense a little bit more,” Browning said. “Defense is an effort. You’ve got to want to do it. I think this year they’ve really realized hey we got to buckle down and we got to play defense if we want to win.”
The players are saying many of the same things.
“Our attitude has changed a lot and our defense is really good this year,” said senior guard/forward Mason Hall.
Team captain and center/power forward Maddox Jones says this year’s squad is “playing as a team and buying into what the coaches are saying.”
Browning agrees.
“They just worked harder and kind of bought into what we were trying to do and they’re showing what they got,” he said.
Browning said the coaches have not done anything different this season, and he credits the players who have put in the work during the season and in the off season to get to the point of winning three times as often as the previous season.
A key factor from this year and last year’s success according to Browning is that the
“Guys put in the work in the offseason to get stronger and faster and quicker and worked on their skills and it’s obviously showing,” Browning said.
To keep up this success and reach the regional tournament, the team will have to win at least their first game against Ryle in the district tournament.
“In my opinion we got the toughest region from top to bottom to get out of and you have to win that first game in the district tournament to get out and make it to the region tournament,” Browning said. “We really got to focus on getting better between now and the district tournament and keep improving”
The players say they recognize that and talk about playing for each other.
Hall said they need to “play as a team” and Jones said they needed to “to play for the guy next to them and play as hard as we can.”
Jones hopes they can continue to pull out more wins as the season progresses.
“I’m very grateful to be a part of this team,” Jones said. “We are going to try our hardest to put another year on the basketball banner in the gym.”
