Experience, momentum could be boosts for Zalma

ZALMA, Mo. -- A surge at the end of last season may help lead to a better season this year, Zalma coach Dwyght Ford says.

The Bulldogs, 5-19 last season, won three of their final five games before bowing out to Risco in the first round of the district tournament. But that momentum -- combined with the return of all five starters -- has Ford optimistic.

"This year we're so experienced," said Ford, in his fourth season at Zalma. "We have seven seniors who played last season and we have juniors coming up who saw a lot of playing time on the junior varsity team. Those JV players are used to winning at that level and they expect to win on a varsity level."

Leading the list of players back is Chad Wiseman, a 6-foot-2 senior who started for the team last season. He averaged a team-high 20 points a game along with nine rebounds, but missed the district opener against Risco because of an injury. The Bulldogs beat the same Risco team earlier in the season.

Wiseman is part of a group of seniors that has played at the varsity level since its sophomore year.

"They've always been playing against kids who were two or three years older than them," Ford said. "We just never had a huge talent pool to choose from, so they've usually had to play just out of necessity."

Other starters back are Brad McKlin, a 6-2 senior who averaged eight rebounds a game; Steven McCain, a 6-foot senior; Nick Hartman, a 6-1 senior; and Jamie Mangrum, a 5-10 senior who shared a starting job with Wiseman's brother Kurt, a 6-1 junior.

Andy Sitzes (5-10) and Jared Huffman (5-9) add more senior experience to the roster.

"The beginning of last year was tough, but toward the end the varsity guys saw our JV team winning 10 or 11 games and started doing the things they had to do to win," Ford said. "In our closer games they started learning what to do and how to finish it instead of letting it get away.

"Once we started winning those varsity games toward the end, they decided they liked that feeling a whole lot more than losing."

Juniors Joey Clubb (5-11) and David Hovis (5-10) round out the varsity roster.

To keep the team's momentum intact, Ford said the Bulldogs are focused on a new defense. Zalma will abandon its man-to-man game and turn to a zone defense, one step toward trying to hold down opponents that routinely rang up big numbers last season.

"We've been running a lot of zone defense in practice and they've really adjusted well to it," Ford said. "They haven't been standing around in the zone -- they're moving and rotating well in practice. We'll see once we get some competition.

"We just had to do something on defense just because we gave up so many points last year. There were times we were scoring 70 or 80 points a game and losing."

And with a new defense in place, the Bulldogs are ready to climb out of the bottom spot in the Mississippi Valley Conference.

"I know if this team plays to its potential," Ford said, "we can win games this year."

jhall@semissourian.com

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