BRAVES RESUME SEARCH FOR STATE TITLE NO. 14

A record of 18-10 is a wonderful season for ordinary basketball programs.

But Scott County Central is not an ordinary basketball program.

After winning 13 state championships -- the most of any school in Missouri history -- the Braves have failed to win a district championship in the past five years.

Former Puxico coach Steve Wells, in his first year at Scott Central, knows expectations are always high for the Braves, but before the Braves get back to a dynasty, they simply have to get better. And that is what Wells' focus."There's high expectations," said Wells. "I can't sit here and tell you that I want to have a perfect season, but I'd like to see us play as well as we can every night. I'd like for us to work to get better as the year goes along. In terms of wins and losses and going back to the state tournament, we'll just have to play that out. You want to build a team that plays like a team and I want us to be playing our best basketball in January and the rest of the year."I think most people want you to do well, but I think most people are realistic when they see what you have to work with."Wells definitely has some good athletes to work with. The only problem with the Braves, and what hurt the team last year, is their size."We're not a very big basketball team," said Wells. "We're not tall. We're going to play up-tempo basketball offensively and defensively; we'll pressure people. But it will depend on who we're playing."The Braves return their second-leading scorer from a year ago and two-year starter Jreece Johnson. Todd Blissett, a junior, and senior Nick Wheeler are also key players coming back. Allen Crites, a senior, and Chris Johnson will likely round out the starting rotation, while David Segers, a junior and sophomore Terrance Williams will be the first players off the bench.

Scott Central lost all-stater John Fort from last year's team. Fort averaged nearly 30 points per game.

So far, Wells has liked what he's seen from this year's crew."They're working real hard right now and I've seen improvement," he said. "We'll take it minute by minute. We have some good athletes and some good players. We can shoot the ball and we are quick. A lot of what we do will be focussed on what we can do rather than what we can't."Scott Central opens its season this week in the Oran Tournament.