A tough year for Longhorn boys

The wins were few and far between this past season for the Kimball High Boy's Basketball Team. In fact, the Longhorns ended up with just 4 wins and 16 losses, but the future looks brighter for Coach Luke Dea and the Horns as they graduate only 1 senior and return a lot of players with varsity experience.

Kole Bush is the lone senior who will graduate from the program and the part-time starter scored 76 points, but that means that 823 of this year's scoring returns. Bush also charted 41 rebounds, had 18 steals and 11 assists.

The win-loss record is somewhat deceiving, as the Horns could, and did, play some quality basketball at times, but were not able to finish out contests where it appeared they were in control. The Horns gave good effort and played hard in most games. They displayed good sportsmanship and played as a team. Among the problems that need to be corrected next season is too many turnovers as they ended with 331 or an average of 16.5 per game. They did not shoot very well, averaging 35% from the field, including 23% from 3-point range and 55% from the foul line. They scored 899 points and averaged just 45 per game. The 27.2 rebounds per game is a positive stat and 12.4 steals a game is not a bad stat.

Along with all of the returning starters and varsity players who will return are also a solid group of junior varsity players who had a successful season with 10 wins and only 4 losses. That JV team is made up of some talented sophomores, some of whom also got a lot of varsity playing time.

Top scorer returning for his senior year is Izaac Reuter, who had 182 points on the season averaging 9.1. The 6'2" Reuter was also Kimball's leading rebounder with 101 averaging 5.1 per game to go with his 40 steals and 30 assists. Izaac was an Honorable Mention all WTC Conference selection. Brady Kilgore, a junior, ended up with 121 points and a 6.1 average, plus 68 rebounds, 38 steals and 30 assists. Sophomore, Brendan Walker, improved during the season to move into a starting role and scored 121 points for a 6.4 average, had 72 rebounds, 29 steals and 17 assists and also was Honorable Mention All Conference. At 6'1", he is a good jumper and may still be growing. Colton Mielke, a junior, had 104 points, averaging 6.9 points as he played in only 15 games, had 27 rebounds, 20 steals and 11 assists. Zane Anthony, a junior, scored 72 points, but the hustling point guard listed at 5'10", pulled 65 rebounds, had 40 steals and a team high 40 assists.

Sophomore, Beau Hanks, Kimball's tallest player at 6'3", scored 98 points, had 65 rebounds, 16 steals and 10 assists. Like Walker, Hanks is going to give Kimball some solid inside play in the next two years, and like Walker, he can also score from outside. Corey Travis, 6'0" junior, displays great inside savvy and if he had another 4 inches on his sturdy frame, he could well be one of the top post players in the region. Corey ended with 69 points, 68 rebounds, 29 steals and 20 assists.

Jaren Winstrom is another junior who gives great effort and could contribute more next season. From that sophomore class, look for Brayden Tyan to challenge for a starting role, along with Samuel Cajero, Austin Lulf and Jacob Withrow. This group has talent and they can shoot and put up numbers the varsity was lacking this season. Javon Coyle, a freshman, is very athletic and could also fit into the picture. The only other freshman on this year's squad, Cole Henton, also showed a lot of improvement from start to finish.

It should be very interesting next season as to who will end up in those starting positions, as the coaches will have a lot of quality depth, and a lot of experience returning. It would look like these young men need to work on their shooting skills during the off season, and it does appear that next season could be a good season for Kimball High boy's basketball. As to farther down the road, there is a need for more young men to get involved.