New Salem eager to keep success intact

If the New Salem Baptist Academy boys basketball team lacked motivation last season, they found it toward the finish.

The team dedicated its season to Lance Fahrenkrog, a former player and student at the school, who was killed in a car accident the summer before.

"I didn't say anything about it all year long until the conference tournament," New Salem coach Ken Jones said. "Then when I finally did there wasn't a dry eye in the room, and we just went out there and ran them."

And they kept running. In fact, they didn't stop until they won the Class 1A state title in the Missouri Christian School Athletic Association Tournament.

New Salem will make the move to Class 2A this year because its enrollment increased nearly 40 percent after last year.

The team returns four starters from last year's championship team, led by a pair of sharp-shooting guards.

John Davault, a 6-foot senior, averaged 15 points per game as the team's top scorer. Davault's partner in the back court is 5-11 senior David Green. Green averaged 13 points last year. Andrew Conway returns as New Salem's post player. John's brother, Joe Davault, returns as a sophomore.

"The one thing I've noticed about our kids is they have a tremendous amount of heart," Jones said. "It's really an unselfish group of kids."