With district playoffs right around the corner, coach Gary Collier and his players stress the importance of tonight’s game at home against Plano West and Tuesday’s game on the road against Allen. In order to ensure a spot in the playoffs, the team must win both of these games and simply hope that Hebron loses its next two games along with Allen losing its next game.
Plano West is second in District 8-5A with a 23-8 overall record. The Farmers are in fifth place, with the top four teams making the playoffs.
Plano West’s roster consists of some considerably large players, including 6 -8 Holt Harmon, 6-8 TJ Cline, 6 -6 Jackson Forbes, and 6 -5 Connor McWilliams. Compared to Plano West, the Farmers have a definite size disadvantage, a fact not lost on Collier.
“There’s always a size issue when you’re going up against Plano West,” Collier said. “We need a concentrated team effort to pound the ball inside on them. We’re also going to try to pressure them a bit with our speed and quickness.”
Senior Cameron King, the team’s third leading scorer (9.1 points per game), explained what his team must to do for a shot at beating Plano West tonight.
“We have to rebound, box out, and run the court,” King said. “Coach keeps stressing these three things out of us, so we got to do them and do them right.”
Before he encountered a near season-ending knee injury, senior Ryan Bowie led the team in scoring with 13.9 points per game. Although Bowie has recently recovered from his injury and is playing again, he is still adjusting to being back on the court.
“The team got used to playing without me,” Bowie said. “Now I’m really just trying to find my role.”
Collier said having Bowie back is a boost for the team.
“Everybody’s feeling better about him being here,” Collier said. “He didn’t miss a shot against Plano, but he hasn’t done much since then either. His leadership qualities are very important for this team though. [We’re] glad to have him back.”
King also shared his thoughts on Bowie’s return.
“[Bowie’s return] was a positive thing,” King said. “[It] gave us a lot of motivation to play better as a team.”
Collier said that he thought the team still had a chance to make the playoffs, despite not being in full control of its own destiny.
“[We] need to hope on some good fortune, even though I hate depending on other teams to lose for us to place,” Collier said. “I’m staying optimistic for the good of the team.”
