Kelly Boys Basketball Preview

Conference: Scott-Mississippi

Coach: Ryan Garnett, 1st year

District: Class 3 District 2

Schedule:

Date Day of Week Opponent Location Time

December 1-5, 2014 Monday-Friday Oran Invitational Tournament Oran TBA

December 9, 2014 Tuesday Bloomfield Home 6 p.m.

December 13, 2014 Saturday Twin Rivers Three Rivers College 5:30 p.m.

December 16, 2014 Tuesday Scott City Away 6 p.m.

December 19, 2014 Friday Woodland Home 6 p.m.

December 26-30, 2014 Friday-Tuesday Southeast Missourian Christmas Tournament Show-Me Center TBA

January 6, 2015 Tuesday Puxico Away 6 p.m.

January 9, 2015 Friday Jefferson (Festus) Away 6 p.m.

January 13, 2015 Tuesday Eagle Ridge Christian School Away 6 p.m.

January 14, 2015 Wednesday Oran Home 6 p.m.

January 16, 2015 Friday Chaffee Away 6 p.m.

January 19-23, 2015 Monday-Friday Scott-Mississippi Conference Tournament Oran TBA

January 27, 2015 Tuesday Saxony Lutheran Home 6 p.m.

January 30, 2015 Friday Oak Ridge Home 6 p.m.

February 3, 2015 Tuesday Scott County Central Away 6 p.m.

February 6, 2015 Friday Delta Away 6 p.m.

February 10, 2015 Tuesday Richland (Essex) Away 6 p.m.

February 13, 2015 Thursday East Prairie Home 6 p.m.

February 16, 2015 Monday Marquand-Zion Away 6 p.m.

February 19, 2015 Thursday Bell City Away 6 p.m.

Roster:

No. Player Year

1 Maurice Davis 11

3 Keith Moore 11

4 Kade Proctor 10

10 Ty Householder 11

11 Evan Abernathy 12

12 Dalton Huffman 12

15 Cayden Williams 10

21 Levi Alsup 11

22 Jake McClain 11

24 Jacob Riley 12

25 Noah Logeman 11

34 Isai Campos 10

35 Jacob Graham 11

44 Conner Dittlinger 11

Returning starters: Dalton Huffman, Evan Abernathy

Starters lost: Gaven Ray, Clay Williams, Josh Roberts

Last year's record: 5-18

Postseason result: Lost to Charleston 43-93 in a district quarterfinal

Team outlook

The Kelly boys basketball team has a new coach with a new philosophy.

Two seasons removed from his head coaching position at Woodland, Ryan Garnett takes over as head coach of the Hawks.

Garnett believes his team is poised to begin a winning tradition now.

"They're really working hard to create a culture of winning and competing day in and day out," Garnett said. "Looking at the schedule with these guys, there is not going to be any easy win for any team that we play, and I see us as a team that can win anywhere between 10-15 games, and that will surprise a lot of people."

Garnett, who was an assistant coach last season for Kelly, feels he's entering a similar situation to his previous head coaching stint.

"We had a similar situation at Woodland, where the short-term history was not great, but we had a group of young guys that were willing to work hard and do what it took to win. Those guys now are seniors, and I'm very proud of them. They're going to be very tough at Woodland," Garnett said. "We've got the same situation here, except we're about a year younger. A bunch of young guys that are willing to work hard, I think we'll be competitive in every game."

The Hawks return starters Dalton Huffman and Evan Abernathy from last year's team.

Garnett said he's comfortable with implementing a variety styles to his team's playing style.

"We'll adapt to who we're playing, as far as what our gameplan is. We're just looking to get out, get after it and work hard," Garnett said. "We're going to be diving for balls. We want to win the in-between games is what I tell them. We want to win the rebounding war. If there's a loose ball, we want to be the first ones diving on it and winning those little battles, and that's going to make the difference in the game."

District breakdown

Kelly will remain in Class 3 but jump from District 1 to District 2 along with Charleston and East Prairie.

Jefferson, St. Pius X and West County will head to District 3, while Arcadia, Saxony Lutheran, Clearwater, Woodland and Scott City remain in the district.

"I think we have a district that's nearly wide-open. I think the clear favorite right now is Charleston, but I think any team is beatable on any given day. If we bring our best game and catch them in stride, I think Charleston, you know, they can be beat," Garnett said. "After that, I think you've got a lot of solid teams. They've got a new coach with Logan Nutt, but they've got a great system. I know [Zach Beel] moved there. That's a good addition. Scott City, they're going to be very competitive with Mark Dannenmueller, and Casey Knight does a great job at East Prairie. After that first spot, which everyone is probably assuming as Charleston at the beginning of the year, I think it's going to be wide open. It's going to be very competitive."

Looking back

Kelly finished last season with a 5-18 record and saw its season end with a 93-43 loss to Charleston in the district opener.

Garnett said last season wasn't an indication as to how well his team actually performed.

"Our record didn't really reflect how hard we worked in practice," Garnett said. "*... This is one of the hardest working teams I've been around, as far as just busting their butts every single day and going as hard as they can go and at the same time, being very receptive and very open to learning the game of basketball and learning the new system. I'm really excited about this year and what these guys have to offer."

-- Trent Singer