Kelly’s Peters tabbed Scott-Mississippi MVP following breakout junior campaign

After leading the Kelly Hawks to both Scott-Mississippi Conference championships and a fifth-place plaque over the holidays, it was only right Ross Peters took home one more honor.

The outstanding junior guard, averaging nearly 18 points a night for coach Noel Trimmer’s 21-6 Kelly Hawks, claimed the Scott-Missippi Conference Player of the Year award last weekend.

Helping lead Kelly to its winningest season in over a decade, Peters took big leaps in his first year under Trimmer, who also earned conference honors as the league's Coach of the Year.

Those leaps and his dedication to the craft led to him becoming one of the biggest breakout stories of the season, and he turned a lot of heads over the winter.

Even so, when he found out that he’d earned the top ranking in one of the region’s deeper conferences, he noted that it hadn’t even been on his radar.

“When I was first told, I was just in shock,” Peters said.

“Being a junior, that was never even on my mind.”

Peters finished the season averaging 17.7 points, 2.7 rebounds, 2.2 assists, and 1.6 steals per game with a shooting clip of 53 percent from the field.

The young gun quickly became a fearsome matchup on both sides of the basketball, with Trimmer maximizing his potential following a disappointing season the year prior.

Now looking at the junior as the top player in the conference, it’s hard to imagine that his future in the sport was uncertain at any point, especially in the past year.

Following his sophomore campaign, in which the Hawks finished just 12-14, Peters claimed that he’d grown exhausted with the sport.

Paired with the recent departure of coach Jeremy Brinkmeyer for future district rival Notre Dame, it felt like time to turn a new leaf.

According to Peters, he wasn’t even planning on playing basketball for the Hawks the 2023-24 season – until they’d brought in the seasoned Trimmer last May.

“After my sophomore season, I just didn’t have anything left in the tank from that year,” Peters said.

“I wasn’t going to come back until we got a new coach, but I decided to play, and he just took me in and let me know what needed to be done.”

That hiring paid more than its dividends, as Kelly had an unbelievable return to form with a deep roster and a new-look offense that averaged over 66 points per game.

The biggest change, for Peters, was the different outlook that Trimmer gave him on the sport and the newfound love that the longtime coach fostered in him.

“He just made me feel like basketball was fun again,” Peters said.

That fun became evident, as Kelly started to run away with the games.

The Hawks racked up win, after win, after win, dominating conference opponents and picking up huge accolades along the way.

Kelly grabbed the fifth-place title at the Southeast Missourian Christmas Tournament in late December in a five-point victory over rival Scott City, part of a huge 2023 half of the season.

The Hawks finished 10-1 in the 2023 half and doubled down on that great start with two more victories against the Rams, including a rowdy 64-56 conference championship victory.

For many, especially including Peters, that dominant conference schedule finished firmly as the highlight of the season as the Hawks became a menacing matchup for local opponents.

“Most of the conference games mean a lot,” Peters began. “Because we worked our butts off to get there and win those.

“Winning the conference regular season and the conference tournament was the big thing.”

As Kelly kept on winning, the respect and admiration for the Hawks grew around the area as Trimmer, Peters and Company steamrolled their way to the No. 3 seed in a stacked district.

Despite a disappointing finish to the season, losing in crushing fashion to ex-skipper Brinkmeyer in a 69-59 loss at Notre Dame in the Class 3 District 2 Tournament, many lessons came out of the exhilarating season.

For Peters, he made quick to express his appreciation for the team’s backbone – the unyielding support from the Hawks faithful and the local community.

“It means a lot,” Peters said. “The whole town will come and support us.

“It’s just huge when we’ve got people there wanting to watch us and help us succeed.”

The full All-Scott Mississippi Conference team included: Kelly’s Dalton Forck; East Prairie’s Noah Johnson and Connor Marcum; Oak Ridge’s Ty Wilson; Chaffee’s Blake Yarbro; Scott County Central’s Namarius Banks-Warren; Delta’s Ryan Jefferies; and Oran’s Nolan Loper.

Honorable mention selections included: Kelly’s Michael Dollins; Oak Ridge’s Konnor Hobeck; Scott City’s Mark Panagos; Chaffee’s Levi McKInnie; and Oran’s Elijah Shoemaker.