Friday, November 25, 2016 Messenger-Inquirer
Basketball
5
Daviess County Boys
Panthers will have new look this season Dynamic to change after loss of Currie
D
2016-17 SCHEDULE 11/29 Madisonville-North Hopkins 7:30 12/2 Owensboro 7:30 12/5 at Trinity (Whitesville) 12/6 Edmonson County 7:30 12/9 Apollo 7 12/13 at Butler County 7:30 12/16 at Owensboro Catholic 7:30 12/17 vs. Marshall County (Murray Bank Christmas Classic) 4:45 12/21 vs. Hopkins County Central (Owensboro Invitational Tournament) 7:30 1/3 at Greenwood 7:30 1/6 at Apollo 7 1/10 Breckinridge County 7 1/13 Ohio County 7:30 1/17 Warren East 7:30 1/20 at Owensboro 7:30 1/24 vs. Hancock County, location TBD 7:30 1/31 at Hopkinsville 7:30 2/3 at Owensboro Catholic 7:30 2/4 at Meade County 6:30 2/7 at McLean County 7:30 2/10 at Muhlenberg County 7:30 2/14 Grayson County 7:30 2/16 South Warren 7:30
BY MADDIE LEE
MESSENGER-INQUIRER
aviess County is going to be practically unrecognizable from what it was last year. “Completely different,” coach Neil Hayden said. “I don’t know that there’s a whole lot that’s the same.” Even with the loss of three starters, including the Panthers’ star player, that’s not a value judgment. It’s an evaluation of their new style built around a new set of players. Running an offense through Stewart Currie, who led the team in points (23.6 per game) and rebounds (13.3 per game) last year, got DC to an impressive 21-7 record before an upset to Apollo in districts cut its season short. Now that the majority of last year’s starting lineup has graduated, Daviess County has a fresh new face. “Last year we were so half-court oriented,” Hayden said. “We had one of the best players in the state, and we were going to go through him, and then he was sometimes even our second option after being the first option. It went through somebody who was getting 20 shots a game, and now we’re really doing it by more committee.” Along with Currie, the 3rd Region Player of the Year and a candidate for Kentucky’s Mr. Basketball, the Panthers graduated starting point guard Sam Wilkerson, team-leading 3-point shooter Andrew Hayden (68 treys) and guard Brady Stein. Last year’s team played the same seven guys almost every game, Hayden said. This summer, DC put 10 or 12 players on the floor any given night. Yes, the Panthers are rebuilding, but Hayden is adamant that they aren’t just throwing together a bunch of inexperienced kids. “We lost a lot, but we’re bringing back a lot, essentially,” he said. Senior Tyler Boling, DC’s third-leading scorer and rebounder last year, will take on a larger role with Currie and Andrew Hayden gone. Shooting 58 percent from the floor last season, Boling had the high-
Photo by Greg Eans, Messenger-Inquirer.com
Daviess County’s Hassan Green runs a workout during after-school practice on Nov. 2.
Caden Coomes
Nick Driskill
Jay Owen
est shooting percentage of any player with at least five attempts. Junior Jay Owen is penciled in as the starting point guard. In a supporting role last year, Owen appeared in 14 games, scored 22 points and grabbed nine boards. The Panthers return three other juniors, in addition to Owen, who they will lean on for points. Caden Coomes, Nick Driskill and Blake Boswell all got valuable minutes last year, each playing in 22 games or more.
“These guys have been playing together since they were kids,” Hayden said, “so we’re not asking them to do anything that they haven’t done. And honestly, with basketball being year round, they’ve already had a whole season under their belt in the summer. “So I don’t feel like we’re just going to be in awe when we get to our first game that really counts. The difference is that they’re going to really have to own what they’re doing and can’t just depend on kids who are gone, those seniors that are gone.” The ghost of what could have been last season still haunts Hayden. The Panthers were projected to compete for the region title before a 58-51 loss to fourth-seeded Apollo in the first round of the district tournament kept DC from even vying for the district championship. Even so, Hayden won’t set any specific
season goals this year. “Did we get better today?” he said. “We ask the guys that each day. We’re hoping that our intensity, our effort, our enthusiasm are really big. That’s what we’re stressing because we think we’re going to play at a pace that requires a lot of energy.”
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