Dragons' Frazier named Boys Basketball Player of the Year
No matter the question, in Junction City the answer is almost always – football. Senior forward Cam Frazier wanted to bring a more physical force to the basketball court.
So, he played football. “Cam really worked hard on becoming a more physical player. He’s been a thinner guy. This past offseason, he hit the weights really hard. We talked to him about playing football just to improve his physicality. It made a big difference,” said Junction City basketball coach Kendall Hutcheson. “He got used to the contact, the weightlifting we did and everything else. He was a much more physical player this year and handled the contact so much better. He became more of a leader. His practice habits became better.”
At 6-foot-5, Frazier lined up at wide receiver for the Dragons during football. On the basketball floor, he lined up all over the place. Solid in the low post, Frazier also could grab a defensive rebound and drive it coast-to-coast for a bucket.
“He ended up playing more inside this year. He’s always had excellent post moves,” said Hutcheson. “He probably shot a little more from the outside than he needed to. This year he really started to understand his own game and do what he was really good at. He became a lot more physical on the boards and used his post moves more. He also has an excellent midrange game.
He really used that a lot more, also.”
Frazier led the Dragons with 16.4 points and 8.5 rebounds per game. He also blocked shots at a 1.5 per game clip.
With his 6-5 height and perimeter skills, the increased strength was perhaps the missing piece to Frazier’s puzzle. It helped in the post when he was doubled and sometimes triple-teamed.
“Cam is one you have to game plan for. With his size and what he can do on the boards, his midrange game and what he changes on defense, I think he changes the game,” said Hutcheson.
“When he was on the post, he got doubled and tripled a lot. He did an excellent job looking for the pass, kicking the ball out and finding the open guy. And he did a really good job of hitting cutters going to the basket. Our guys did a good job of recognizing when he was getting doubled and tripled and they would cut to the basket and Cam did a good job of finding them.”
Junction City finished second in the league behind Fordyce and advanced to the regional tournament. Hutcheson said Frazier has drawn
Continued from Page 1B interest from several schools.
“He's looking at three or four schools right now. He kind of wants to get away,” said Hutcheson.
Wherever Frazier's next basketball stop lies, he can give football some of the credit.
“He was a mismatch problem because he's so quick on the post,” said Hutcheson. “If you put a slower big guy on him, he uses his post moves really well. And he can get off the floor so well and block shots. He improved his defense a lot between his junior and senior years. He started to understand how to play defense better.”