Jones to be Advance ‘big man’

After what some may call a disappointing 2023-24 season for Advance hoops, the Hornets jumped right into summer league ready to step things up.

Four out of the Hornets’ six wins came in the final month of the season and got the squad into the Class 2 District 3 Championship game against Puxico. With a new coach in Dalton Wilson, it took Advance a while to gel as a team, but success followed once they did.

“I think it was a combination of things, but the biggest thing was that these guys bought into what I was telling them and teaching them. They really bought in together and we just figured out how to play together so that's the biggest thing,” Wilson said. “It takes a long time to change with a new coach and new system with guys who never played varsity before. I think they just all put it together at the end.”

Wilson said it was his seniors last year such as Andrew Henson and Braylon Carlton who led the charge both on and off the court.

“Andrew Henson was a really good three-point shooter for us. Braylon Carlton did a lot for us with rebounds and scoring, but I think they did a good job of leading some of our younger guys,” Wilson said. “So this next year, I think a lot of my sophomores are going to take a big step up as juniors and I'm looking forward to those guys helping us out.”

When the upperclassman bought in it set an example for the guys filling in this coming season. Incoming junior Jacob Jones is one mentioned by Wilson who looks to have a bigger role this year.

“Jacob Jones was a sophomore last year and took a really big step on JV. He could have played on varsity last year, but this year as a junior he's gonna take a big role in helping us guard big guys,” Wilson said. “He’s a really good rebounder and great driver, so Jones is gonna be one of the guys to look to help us out.”

Jones echoed his coach, the Hornets are not the tallest team around so rebounds can be few and far between. Jones said he welcomes the challenge of being the ‘big man’ underneath the basket.

“Well, I just gotta get in there and get the rebounds over the bigger guys. We're a small team, so I'll probably have to be the big guy since we have nobody else,” Jones said. “As a team, we're gonna have to get in there and block out, like we saw tonight they got a lot of rebounds over us.”

Week one of summer league at the Cape Girardeau Sportsplex was probably the best challenge Advance could have faced, taking on Class 3 State Champions New Madrid County Central. Even without Jadis Jones and BJ Williamson running the show, the Eagles are a good team and much bigger than the Hornets so Jacob Jones and company learned a lot.

“We need to get our guards down the court and get them the ball to push the offense. I think that was our biggest thing, we’re keeping the ball held back for too long,” Jones said.