‘When called on, they performed’

The Panthers met Sunday, March 23 for a banquet to recap their 11-11 season and honor their seven graduating seniors.

The Creston boys basketball team finished their season in the first round of the Class 3A playoffs, losing 65-28 to Bondurant-Farrar.

“Obviously the way the season ended wasn’t what we wanted,” head coach Bryce Schafer said. “There’s only going to be one team that’s happy about finishing the season.”

Throughout the night, Schafer called out many performances, noting that while senior forward Jake Hoyt was certainly the team’s star, there was a rotating group of players stepping up each night.

“We had stretches where all of the sudden [Brayden] Schoon would have a 15-point night — hitting free throws, making buckets. We’d have nights where Tanner Ray was hitting 3-point shots from everywhere, scoring 20-plus points. We had nights where Josh [Schaefer] is getting steals off of 1-3-1, getting finishes,” Schafer said. “Everyone on the team matters at some point. At some given point, they’re going to be called on. We had a really good group that when called on, they performed.”

Accolades

The team voted on four awards: most improved, hardest worker, most valuable offensive player and most valuable defensive player.

Though there were many players nominated, Ray was selected as the team’s most improved.

“I saw great development out of him, and we had a good meeting at the end of the year,” Schafer said. “I think that the sky’s the limit for this guy going forward.”

Ray put up 68 points this season including 12 3-pointers. As a freshman he scored only two points.

The hardest worker award also saw multiple players recognized, but senior Parker Varner earned the award.

“He’s the kind of kid that every single day after practice he’s asking, ‘hey is the gym going to be open so I can get some shots up?’” Schafer said. “He works every summer even though he’s got baseball as well. He does all the little things, sprints his butt off, fights and competes.”

Varner finished the season with 166 points. He led the team with 50 assists and tied with Hoyt for most steals with 42.

The only award unanimously selected was most valuable offensive player. “Obviously we had performances from Jake who was our leading scorer, led the conference in scoring. We expect it from him every night to be able to do those things, and he did consistently,” Schafer said. “It’s because of his development as a person as well and a leader on the team that he got the role that he has. He’s not just an offensive player, he plays his butt off on the defensive end as well.”

Josh Schaefer, a senior, was named most valuable defensive player. Schafer called him out as one of the only players to get upset at being taken off the court.

“Even when he’s tired and down, he just wanted to be out there the entire time,” Schafer said. “He rooted himself on the defensive end. He did all of those things that we would want from a player, and he was just a bulldog at the top of that 1-3-1. He got a lot of hands on the ball, and he got better as a shooter in his career.”

Three Panthers earned Hawkeye 10 all-conference honors.

Hoyt was a unanimous first-team selection. He led the Panthers in points (406), rebounds (191), steals (42), blocks (33) and field goals (161). He finishes his career with 873 points.

Varner and sophomore Rhett Driskell were each on the honorable mention team.

Driskell finished second for the Panthers in points with 233, second in assists with 43 and second in field goals with 86.

Varner’s 93 rebounds were second-highest on the team. He finishes with 655 career points.

Seniors earning a 3.5 or higher cumulative GPA earn academic all conference. Panther recipients were Varner, Schaefer and Schoon.

Moving forward

Schafer expressed dissatisfaction with the season’s record.

“We had four or five games decided by five or less points,” he said. “All those things are things that the coaches and I have to reflect on situationally because we thought our players did an excellent job of fighting every evening. Offensively, defensively, philosophically, those are things I have to look back on and hopefully fix for next year because 11-11 wasn’t where we wanted to be.”

The program graduates seven seniors — Hoyt, Varner, Schaefer, Schoon, Sand, Tyler Riley and Casen Dryden.

The Panthers will have Driskell as their sole returning starter for next season. Other potential returning letterwinners include Ray and Cael Barton.

AWARDS

Letterwinners:

Tanner Ray

Rhett Driskell

Cael Barton

Casen Dryden

Tyler Riley

Josh Schaefer

Parker Varner

Jake Hoyt

Tommy Sand

Brayden Schoon

Kennedy Hayes (Manager)

Jaibre Stolk (Manager)

Academic All Conference:

Josh Schaefer

Parker Varner

Brayden Schoon

H10 All Conference:

Jake Hoyt

Parker Varner

Rhett Driskell

Most Improved: Tanner Ray

Hardest Worker: Parker Varner

MVOP: Jake Hoyt

MVDP: Josh Schaefer