Washington County Enterprise-Leader
Tigers Basketball Team Knocks Off Rust
FOOTBALLERS JOIN HOOPS SQUAD AFTER STATE RUNNER-UP FINISH
SILOAM SPRINGS — “One stinking point in the fourth quarter,” Prairie Grove coach Steve Edmiston said to his assistants with 2:30 remaining in a 45-35 loss against Holland Hall, Okla., on Dec. 30.
The long field goal drought was one of many frustrating moments for Edmiston and his team, which went 0-3 during the Siloam Springs Holiday Classic. In the Tigers’ defense, it was the first time eight players off of their state runner-up football squad had suited up for hoops.
“This was the first three games with everybody, so it’s kind of like you were starting over,” Edmiston said. “We played a bunch of games with our offseason crew and I thought they made some strides, but creating a new dynamic, a new chemistry, it’s kind of a work-inprogress. That’s kind of what we talked about (after the tourney, so I think the guys understand that, and so do I. “And I thought from Day 1 to Day 3, we made some
improvements, even if the scoreboard didn’t really reflect that.”
It didn’t. The 10- point loss against Holland Hall on Day 2 was the Tigers’ tightest margin of defeat. It was sandwiched between a 69-40 loss against Coweta, Okla., and a 74- 51 loss against Inola, Okla., in the seventh place game.
Edmiston rotated players often throughout all three games while trying to find the best combination of talents. The Tigers ( 1-10) opened 4A-1 play at Shiloh Christian on Tuesday (after press time).
“I think at times we did some things that we’ll have to continue to improve upon,” Edmiston said. “With the influx of new players, we had eight really good athletes come from football, we tried different combinations to kind of see who can do what where, so we still played to win, but at the same time, we needed the opportunity to see some different guys and see what they could do.
“We anticipate being a much different team in late January and early February than we are now.”
The opening possession of the tournament set the tone. After winning the tip, Coweta ran an alley oop play that resulted in an easy layup and an early lead it would never relinquishe en route to a 29-point victory.
Prairie Grove cut Coweta’s lead to two points again on Darby Rush’s bucket with 2:30 remaining in the first quarter, but that was as close as it would get as Coweta finished off the quarter — and, essentially, the Tigers — with a 9-2 run and never looked back.
Coweta led 38-19 at halftime, but Prairie Grove wouldn’t go away without a fight. Three-pointers by Isaac Disney and Josh Haley trimmed the deficit to 46-35 with 2:16 remaining in the third quarter, but a 9-0 Coweta run resulted in a 20-point deficit (55-35) for the Tigers heading into the fourth quarter.
Playing three Oklahoma teams gave the Tigers a different style than what they are used to seeing.
“We played against three zone teams, which is really different,” Edmiston said. “Nowadays, you don’t see much zone so, if nothing else, it gets us adjusted to playing against a zone (defense) when we do see one.”
Regardless of the deficit through the three losses, Prairie Grove showed plenty of energy, especially on defense.
“Offense is going to have some nights where it’s just not there, but we can come to play defensively each and every night,” Edmiston said. “With (6-foot-7) Dylan ( Soehner) in the middle, our defense can afford to be a little more aggressive on the perimeter and at the same time, we’ve got to do a better job of keeping people contained. We got broken down quite a bit off of the dribble, so we’ve really got to work on that.
“With each offense, we need to get an idea of what we’re looking for out of each ( set) and we missed that sometimes (during the tourney) but, again, that’s something that’s going to come with more repetitions and experience.
“If we do those two things on each side of the ball, we’re going to be OK.”
The main thing will be getting the eight football players into basketball shape as far as conditioning and finding their shooting touch.
“I think the eight who came over are going to give us a lot of positives,” Edmiston said. “We’re just calling it a process, so we’re just wanting to make sure we’re improving every practice, every game and we’re going to do what we can. The guys understand it, it’s going to take some time and having them in tune with that is a good thing.”