BY DEREK SHORE
Entering his fifth season as the boys basketball coach at Webb City, Jason Horn is accustomed to the drill by now.
The Cardinals make a deep run in the state football playoffs, and Horn awaits the remainder of his roster to join practices a week or two before the start of the basketball season.
"We are kind of used to doing it, and we had a little more time (this year) — I don't know if three days makes a big difference than two days from last year," Horn said. "It's just something we have adjusted to. I think they have been in the system long enough, so when they do come in, we are polishing things up. That's a bonus for us."
And the Cardinals showed no signs of shaking off the basketball rust, putting four players in double figures and rolling past Lamar 77-48 in their season opener at the Cardinal Dome on Tuesday night.
"We played well in stretches," Horn said. "We have some things we have to fix that court time with help. I think we have a good mix of guys that have been in practice, but we have to adjust with some of the guys that are just coming in that had about five days to prepare. We are playing ourselves into shape at certain spots. There are things we can fix, but there are a lot of positives we can take out of this one."
Webb City junior Kaden Turner tied Lamar's Case Tucker with a game-high 16 points. Senior Nickhai Howard finished with 15 points while junior Cohl Vaden had 11 and sophomore Alex Martin 10.
"We have nine guys we really feel comfortable rotating," Horn said. "There are 11 that we can put in and really not miss too much of a beat when those guys come in."
The Cardinals jumped out to a 7-0 lead after a putback from Luke Brumit at the 6:07 mark and didn't look back from there. Webb City's lead swelled to 23-7 by the end of the first quarter and 43-19 by halftime. To cap a strong first half, the Cardinals finished on a 10-0 run behind four points from Brumit and layups from Turner and Max Higginbotham.
Webb City's advantage grew to 64-37 by the end of the third quarter, but Howard iced it with five minutes left in regulation. He converted a three-point play off a heavily contested layup to make it 69-45.
"Nickhai's really talented," Horn said. "He did a good job directing traffic on both ends of the floor. He communicates well with his teammates. His basketball IQ has improved each year he has played. In my opinion, he is as good as any player in the area right now."
Lamar also had its share of players transition to a new sport right after the completion of football season.
The Tigers won the Class 2 state championship last Friday night.
"They know the system at this point," Tigers coach Matt Powell said. "We just have to get a ball in their hands and start getting better with their skills. I thought we did a good job against Webb City's pressure. We went through stretches where we made mental mistakes and I think that's because we were tired. All in all, I was pleased the kids stayed the course and didn't get frustrated. We are excited to practice the rest of the week."
Webb City returns to action at 7 p.m. Friday at East Newton (5-0).
Joplin Globe 12/09/20 (Used by permission)