Panther boys look to rise in H-10

Two senior returning starters lead a Creston boys basketball team with hopes of rising in the Hawkeye Ten Conference this season, despite the loss of five graduated seniors from last year’s 10-13 squad.

Jake Hoyt, a 6-3 senior forward, returns as the leading scorer from last year’s team. He averaged 14.7 points and 7.0 rebounds per game. Hoyt was named to the Hawkeye Ten Conference second team last year. He is the only returning player among the league’s top 10 scorers last year.

Another key returnee from this year’s senior class, 6-3 outside shooting threat Parker Varner, contributed 5.5 points and 4.5 rebounds a game as a junior.

The other returning lettermen expected to take on bigger varsity roles this winter are seniors Brayden Schoon, Josh Schaefer and Tommy Sand, along with sophomore guards Rhett Driskell and Tanner Ray.

Bryce Schafer, beginning this seventh season as Panther head coach, said Hoyt becomes more of a leader this year with the loss of seniors Cael Turner (first team all-conference) and center Tony Davidson (Hawkeye Ten honorable mention). Those two combined for 27 points a game last season and Turner was the on-court leader as point guard and defender of top opposing players.

Other graduated seniors with big roles last year were Gavin Millslagle and Lucas Rushing. Conner Wiley missed the season with an elbow injury.

“Jake will easily be in the top five players in the conference from a production standpoint,” Schafer said. “The best part of Jake and Parker going out for football last fall was that it was helpful from a physique and toughness standpoint. Parker had an uptick in his rebounding and defense last year. He had a great game in the playoffs at Harlan. You’ll see more production out of him.”

While Davidson was the main threat in the post last season, Schafer foresees a smooth transition to 6-3 senior Brayden Schoon, an all-district football lineman.

“Brayden Schoon is the real deal,” the Panther coach said. “We had our camp in Cedar Rapids this summer, and one of the areas of development for him was just his ability to finish inside against good competition. His size and strength is great, especially in a conference that’s depleted in bigs.”

Driskell and Ray, the sophomore guard tandem, and junior Cael Barton will be asked to fill the void of Turner’s absence on the perimeter. Josh Schaefer, a 6-1 senior, can play multiple positions with perimeter shooting ability.

“Rhett is going to take big strides this year,” Schafer said. “I think the athletic enhancement (physical education) class is helping a lot of guys, and I see that in Rhett’s development. Tanner is working hard and doing everything that we knew he could do. Josh Schaefer and Cael Barton are in the mix of guys we expect to have on the floor a lot. Cael had a great summer. Josh broke his kneecap and was rehabbing that until football season, so he’s catching up. But he’s done a great job in the first week and a half of practice.”

Three additional senior guards provide depth the team didn’t really have last year, with Tommy Sand and Casen Dryden moving up in the ranks and speedy Xander Drake back after being out with knee surgery from football last year. Dryden did not play basketball as a junior.

“Those guys can be positive influences on our roster,” Schafer said. “I really feel we’re about 12 deep in people I feel comfortable about having on the floor in varsity games.”

Seniors Tyler Riley and Eli Schaffer and juniors Nathan Carroll and Ayden Purdum are also part of the varsity while Carroll and Purdum could be leaders of the JV unit as well. Schafer’s staff includes Chris Tibbals and Drew Dornack working with the JV 1 and JV 2 squads.

System changes

Schafer hopes changes in the team’s offense will flow more freely this year in utilizing the Princeton point system. It features four players outside the 3-point arc with one post player near the top of the key. The offense runs through the post with constant motion and passing until a player cuts toward an unoccupied area near the basket or comes off a screen for a scoring opportunity.

“We’ve been primarily a motion dribble drive offense the past few years,” Schafer explained. “I felt last year that we got stagnant at times, tending to stand around a lot if we couldn’t beat our defender one on one and drawing the help. We’re going to this point series now with four out and one in, with a lot of screening off the ball going on. There are more back cuts and off-ball screening and some dribble handoff action. It gives us more movement.”

There are also a few changes defensively, utilizing more zone concepts than in the past.

“We started doing that at the end of the year last season and I think that helped us beat Harlan in the playoff,” Schafer said. “This year you’ll see a lot more 3-2 zone, morphing into different things.”

Conference outlook

Last year Lewis Central won the Hawkeye Ten at 9-1 (14-7 overall), with Carroll Kuemper and Denison-Schleswig tied for second at 8-2, followed by Glenwood (7-3) and Harlan (6-4). Creston was tied with Atlantic for sixth place at 4-6.

The entire all-conference first team was made up of seniors last year, opening up this year’s race with a lot of newcomers in the lineups of the top teams. Kuemper, however, does return a league-high 40 points per game, led by returnees Brock Badding, Tregan Beiter and Carson Kanne, all scoring 10 points or more per game.

In addition, Kuemper now has 6-5 junior transfer Ryan Clair from East Sac County, where he averaged 18.7 points a game.

“Kuemper brings back a lot this year and is easily the favorite,” Schafer said. “They have shooters. LC lost their top seven scorers, but they will still have good athletes. Harlan lost a lot but they’re Harlan, they’ll put out a good team. Glenwood is right there. St. Albert has a new coach from Omaha and they could have new players. Atlantic and Denison lost some good kids. I think we can compete for a higher spot.”

The Panthers open at Winterset Monday in a girl-boy doubleheader followed by games against Class 1A Madrid and opening conference play against St. Albert (Dec. 10 home opener), Atlantic and Glenwood before going to Kansas City for the holiday classic against Green City, Mo.

Roster

(* — letterwinner)

Seniors — *Josh Schaefer, Xander Drake, Tyler Riley, Casen Dryden, *Parker Varner, *Jake Hoyt, *Tommy Sand, Brayden Schoon, Eli Schaffer.

Juniors — Cael Barton, Nathan Carroll, Ayden Purdum, Waymond Foster, CT Stalker, Hector Suazo, Jackson Jondle.

Sophomores — *Rhett Driskell, Tanner Ray, Garrett Troutwine, Jace Purdum, Brodie Pashek, Hayden Levine, Layne Sand, Barrett Lane, Terrance Taylor.

Freshmen — Brady McDonald, Landyn Scherer, Austin Jondle, Jaxson Schaffer, Caden Wiley, Tobey Hulse Bolingo, Merrick Weiland, Adam Thompson, Damian Bowlby.