Young Mounties off to strong start

Rogers High has already won more games this year than in any of the last five seasons. The Mounties (10-2) hadn’t won more than nine games since their 12-17 finish in the 2012-13 season, but a group that has only one senior in their top eight is off to a great start. They are coming off winning the Siloam Springs Holiday Classic last week, knocking off 6A-West Conference foe Springdale High in the finals. Rogers will try to wipe out another obstacle tonight when it opens conference play by hosting Van Buren. The Mounties will try to stop a 28-game conference losing streak, which spans exactly two seasons. Mounties coach Lamont Frazier, who is in his second season, said the team’s youth could be a positive since they haven’t gotten caught up in any of the previous failures. “The fact we’re relatively young has always been a concern to get ourselves prepared for the upcoming grind,” Frazier said. “We’ve tried to expose our guys to the challenges their gonna face when January rolls around. Only two of those top eight are what you could call conference veterans. “Given our situation, I’m not so sure that that’s not a good thing. They don’t have that preconceived notion of ‘We’re not supposed’ because it’s always been this way.” Junior Drew Miller is the only player averaging in double figures at 12.8 points per game, followed by classmate Elliot Pascal at 8.5. A pair of newcomers is also making significant contributions. Derek Hobbs and Joseph Park both moved from out-of-state. Hobbs, a 5-10 junior guard, came from Indiana and didn’t get to Rogers until late October. But he’s averaging more than seven points per game. Park, a 6-2 junior, came the first week of school and has also contributed, despite missing the first seven weeks of the season with a fractured wrist. “We’re still learning about each other, and that’s a good thing,” Frazier said.