Reindeer senior concludes career with 'fantastic season'

The 2023-24 varsity boy’s basketball season at Clarkton High School wasn’t quite as successful – in terms of wins and losses – as the Reindeer followers had grown to enjoy over the past couple of winters.

After winning a combined 33 games in third-year coach Cole McBroom’s first couple of seasons, Clarkton labored to just 10 victories this past season. However, the Reindeer did finish the season winning three of their final four games, including a third consecutive MSHSAA Class 1 District 1 championship.

A key component of the success that McBroom’s team achieved was due to the maturation of senior guard Amauri Gorman.

“The growth that he had this year,” McBroom said of Gorman following his final game, a loss at Richland (Essex) in the MSHSAA Class 1 Sectional 1 late last month.

As a sophomore, Gorman wasn’t much of a threat at either end of the court. However, he continued to grow, work, and particularly this season, mature, according to his coach.

“Honestly,” McBroom said, “coming into his sophomore year, he was strictly a shooter for us. He was this little, skinny kid, who couldn’t guard the chairs that you and I were sitting in.”

Gorman did this season.

“Now,” McBroom said, “he usually guards the other team’s best guard. He has really become a more complete player.”

Gorman was the lone senior who got minutes in that final game, so the future appears bright for Clarkton next season, but as Gorman totaled a team-leading 14 points against the Rebel defense, which was making containing Gorman a priority, it showed how much development offensively Gorman had over the past four-plus months.

“The last two years,” McBroom explained, “he didn’t really have to handle the basketball because we had seniors that did that. This year, he had to step up and do that.”

Very few Reindeer fans envisioned Gorman scoring like he did as a senior, and that list of doubters included McBroom.

“Coming into the season,” McBroom said, “I didn’t really feel like he had that good of a shot at getting 1,000 (career) points. Boy, did he prove me wrong.”

Gorman put in over 650 points this season and finished his career with well over 1,000 points.

“Kudos to Amauri,” McBroom said, “because he has had a fantastic season.”