Young guards keep Puxico hoops rolling

The Puxico High School basketball express continued to roll on Friday, as the Indians had little difficulty dispensing of Clarkton 83-43, which gave the Class 2 No. 7-ranked team its 11th win in 12 outings.

The Indians have utilized a balanced attack on its opposition in every way imaginable this winter, be it offense and defense, post scoring and perimeter play, and also veteran players and young players, most notably sophomore guards Jett Hancock and Landan Burchard, both of whom were recently named to the Bloomfield Christmas All-Tournament Team.

“They definitely make my job a lot easier,” third-year Indian coach Bryant Fernetti said recently. “And the thing about them is you don’t have to ask them or beg them to get into the gym.

“In fact, it’s almost like I have to kick them out so I can go home sometimes.”

Neither player brings great size, as Hancock is 5-foot-11 and Burchard is 5-foot-9. However, both bring skill athleticism, and speed to both ends of the court.

“It helps with those guys,” Fernetti explained, “because they can guard a bunch of different people. They are small, but they play bigger than they are. If they get the ball in their hands, typically something good happens.”

In Puxico’s tournament finale at Bloomfield, a 25-point rout of a 10-win Van Buren squad, the two combined for 36 points, which came via drives to the rim, three-point shots (a combined three of them), and the duo were difficult to guard, as they sank 11 of 14 combined free throws.

“If Jett is hitting his shots,” Fernetti said, “you can get him the ball, and it may take him a little bit to get to his spot, but when he gets to his spot, it’s usually a good outcome.”

Puxico has now won 41 of its 63 games played in two-plus seasons, and with 11 of the 15 varsity players returning for either next year or in the case of Burchard, Hancock, each of the next two years, things should keep trending upward for Fernetti’s program.

“It makes my job a 1,000 percent easier,” Fernetti said of his athletes’ work ethic. “They just want to be in the gym. A lot of our kids want to be in there.

“The success that we are having now is because, in the summer, we go and play all kinds of games, that is just what these kids want to do.”

The Indians will host Bell City (2-8) on Tuesday at 7:30 p.m.