Northwest Arkansas Democrat-Gazette
West’s Bowman ideal floor general
CENTERTON — When Tucker Bowman suffered a dislocated shoulder during Bentonville West’s game last month against Bentonville, Wolverines coach Greg White admitted the sight of his starting point guard in pain was almost too much to take.
What made it even harder was when the senior White calls “the heart and soul of the team” tried to persuade him to get back into the game later that night, even with the injury that he had suffered for second time in eight days.
“In Kansas City, we were playing an exceptional ( Springfield) Kickapoo team — a very good squad,” Bowman said. “There was a loose ball late in the game. I dove on it and got the ball to Tucker Anderson and went up by two, but I dislocated my shoulder.
“I played the next two games, not knowing about it until we got back home and saw a trainer here. That following Friday, I was guarding Caden Miller, and he did a spin move. My arm got stuck and dislocated it again, and that’s when we were like ‘ OK, I can’t play any more until we went and saw a doctor.’”
The injury caused Bowman to miss West’s next three games, including the team’s only loss against Studio City (Calif.) Harvard-Westlake before he returned to the lineup against Cabot during the Bad Boy Mowers Ronnie Brodgon Invitational in Highland. He now sports a brace on the ailing right shoulder and said he might need extra straps as a safety measure.
But for now, he’s back in action as the Wolverines’ floor general, where he averages six points and nine assists per game, a statistic that leaves White in awe. He had a season-high 13 points against Little Rock Christian, and he finished with eight points and eight assists in West’s 59-53 victory at home Wednesday over Fort Smith Northside.
“He literally gives everything for the program, and he has since he’s played,” White said. “I’ve coached both of my sons, and I would put him in that role of being meaningful to be able to coach him for three years.
“He’s such a tough kid and does everything that you ask and more. To see him ask to come out of the game hurt, that’s one of those memories I don’t want to have. Not only is he a good young player and a good young man, he encompasses everything that is right about high school sports. I think he’s going to be a good player for somebody on the next level.”
Basketball, however, wasn’t the sport that Bowman wanted to play when he first attended West. He actually wanted to play baseball for the Wolverines because of the opportunity to be teammates with many of his friends.
That all changed, however, when he began to play basketball for the Wolverines, and eventually gave up baseball last season so he could focus on basketball and the possibility of playing the sport in college.
“I just fell in love with the system,” Bowman said. “I wanted to pursue college basketball because of what coach White has done for me and taught me as a person. It was hard to give up baseball — long conversations with my parents, multiple conversations with coach White and (former West baseball) coach (Chip) Durham.
“Everybody was telling me I was going to miss baseball and want to go back. But with my friends in basketball and what I’ve done with the team, it makes me want to go further in basketball. I’ve put even more time in basketball since I decided to quit baseball, and it’s been an exceptional decision for me.”
Bowman doesn’t mind it at all when he’s able to get the ball to an Anderson or a Dawson Price and let them take care of the scoring. But there comes comes when he steps to the forefront.
When West played at Siloam Springs earlier this season, White instructed Bowman to shoot a 3-pointer to start the game in hopes of getting the Panthers out of their traditional zone defense. Bowman not only hit one, but he added two more in the first quarter alone.
“I told T-Bow that if we win the tip, you don’t pass it,” White said. “You dribble it up and shoot it. He shot it a little bit deeper than we thought. He hits those three, and I have friends calling up, saying ‘what’s with your guy, shooting it from 30 off the bounce?’
“We talk about being dirtroad tough around here, and that’s him. That’s who he is.”