Eyes on the big guy

The Bell City Cubs and Will Bogan were in Bernie on Thursday night.

University of Memphis basketball coach John Calipari was there as well with members of his coaching staff.

It was no coincidence.

Also not so coincidental, perhaps, was Bogan's 34-point, 15-rebound performance in Bell City's 82-59 victory in the Stoddard County Activities Association game.

"I'd like them here every night if that's what motivated Will," Bell City coach Brian Brandtner said, "but I'd like to think it was because he was running a little bit harder down the floor, like we've been practicing.

"But having coach Calipari in attendance at Bernie, that's pretty special for the area. That's pretty cool."

Bogan, a 6-foot-10, 300-pound junior who is playing high school basketball for the first time, took it as another day on the court.

"Basically, they just came out here just to see what I was looking like," Bogan said. "I have to do what I have to do just in order to play ball."

Bogan's skills became the buzz off Southeast Missouri last year when he enrolled at Bell City High School even though he could not play for the Cubs.

He put up a 31-point, 16-rebound performance on Dec. 1 against Malden that signaled a coming-out party. He even finished the game with a putback at the buzzer for the game-winner.

Bernie coach Morris Karnes was getting his first look at Bogan and the Cubs, and the Mules never found a way to stop him.

"I had never seen him play, of course, [since] this is the first year he's played," Karnes said. "He's everything they say he is."

Bogan scored 22 points in the second half, including a pair of dunks and 10 consecutive points in one stretch.

"Whether we fronted him or backed him, it didn't matter," Karnes said. "He was scoring over the top of us, underneath us or from the free-throw line. It didn't really matter where we were playing him, he was still scoring on us.

"I think overall our kids played hard," Karnes added. "I thought Marcus Massey -- that's probably the hardest he's played all year. The only problem is he's trying to play against somebody that's 8 inches taller and weighs 150 pounds more than what he does."

Calipari was prohibited by NCAA rules from commenting on Bogan or any high school player, but said he had an "enjoyable" night. The coach who built UMass into a Final Four team has Memphis in the top 10 this season in his sixth year at the school.

"It's not that far from Memphis and to come out and see a high school game," Calipari said. "It was enjoyable."

Brandtner also had an enjoyable night, though he thinks the team that finished fourth in Class 1 last year still has work to do this season. Bell City's next game is Dec. 26 in the Southeast Missourian Christmas Tournament, where the Cubs are the No. 3 seed.

"I think early we didn't contest enough shots like we needed to," Brandtner said. "We're trying to run a little bit more in our transition game. Tonight, you can tell that we're not there yet, but we're showing signs of getting down the floor quicker before the defense can all pile in on Will.

"You get down there before the defense and you're going to get a lot more open looks. We're going to get better running, but for starters, I'm not too unhappy with tonight's effort."

Karnes was impressed with Cubs other than Bogan.

"They're an awfully talented team," he said. "Beyond him, they'd be talented even without him, but with him, he takes them to another level.

"We're not as deep as they are, not as athletic as they are, and I was afraid -- which kind of happened -- they just started finally just pushing it up and down the floor on us and rebounding, getting stickbacks and then especially just going inside to Bogan."