Fall sports are finished, and now it’s basketball season. Coming off a 13-9 record last season, the Garden Plain boys basketball team is ready to kickstart this season. Some people would say that last season was pretty good, but the boys this year don’t want to have a good season; they want to have a great season.
The Garden Plain basketball team is led by fourth year head coach Mark Powell. Assisting Powell will be Lorenzo Barles and Lee Gillen. Gillen reenters the Garden Plain basketball program after serving as both a head coach and assistant coach for the Owls. He is looking to make a big impact in the shooting percentages for this team. Coach Gillen’s main role coming back to Garden Plain is helping all athletes get better at shooting because if you can’t score, you can’t win.
Losing some starters from last year, Coach Powell is looking for some kids to step up and make an impact on Garden Plain basketball. Powell shared his thoughts about some of the returning players saying, “Eli Eck, senior, Brant Long, junior, and Cooper Eck, sophomore, all return with varsity experience. They are going to be filling a lot of roles on both sides of the ball and in leadership. Eli is going to be vital for us, handling the ball and running point (similar to him as QB this year). Brant will need to continue guarding at the high level he was last year, and he’s going to be more aggressive on the offensive end. Cooper did a great job being thrown into the fire as a freshman last year (5 PPG, 38% 3FG). We are looking for him to take a bigger role on the offensive end and continue getting better on the defensive side.”
Powell is optimistic about the season and the team’s potential, “We are looking forward to competing in the CPL this year (8-1 last season, runner-up) and in the 3A field. We graduated 5 seniors last season, and I’ve been pleased to see how many kids have been stepping up to fill these roles and to improve their leadership. With only 3 returning players with varsity experience, we are going to need multiple people to step up this year and play big minutes on the varsity level. We have full confidence this is going to happen and are especially optimistic after seeing it done in the fall during football season.”
Besides the returning Eck brothers and Long, Powell is expecting a lot of quality minutes and is hoping several others will want to take it up a notch. Other players who are looking forward to playing varsity minutes are Jared Flax, Braylen Dold, and Jaren McFadden. Even though these guys didn’t play much for the team last year, they are going to be some key players for the team this year. Flax, who is just a sophomore, is a 6”7 center who is coming off an injury, and looking forward to helping this team win some games.
Flax shared his feelings about this year saying, “Coming into this season, I just want to prove people wrong. People are counting us out, and I think we can do better than what they think. One thing I’m trying to work on this season is my shooting, as Coach Gillen says you can’t win unless you score, so being able to make some shots could help us out a lot. Team expectations this year are to not give in to what people say, and always be the hardest worker on the court and give your best effort.”
Sophomore Cooper Eck, also shared Flax’s optimism about the season, “I’m excited to play with my friends and my brother for one more year, and I want to win some games this year. Something that I need to work on is my defense because defense wins championships. My role on the team is to be a leader on and off the court and hit shots when the team needs it most. Some strengths that I have are shooting the ball, handling the ball under pressure, and passing. Our expectations coming into this year are to be fast, play to our strengths, and win some ball games.”
Garden Plain’s opening game is December 2, at Wellington. Last year’s game vs. Wellington came down to the wire, but Garden Plain captured the win with Copper Eck’s last-second corner three to win the game. The boys are excited for the season, and they can’t wait to see how the season goes.
