Junction City has high expectations

News-Times Staff

When going from one sport to the next, teams usually have some time to practice to get ready for the new season.

But for Junction City, they had roughly 17 hours in transitioning from putting the finishing touches on a state championship on the gridiron to hitting the hardwood.

It didn’t matter.

The Dragons topped Crossett 55-52 in the opening round of the Dual State Tournament last Saturday.

Since then, the Dragons knocked off Fordyce late Thursday night to reach today’s championship game.

A good start for a team that didn’t hold it’s first practice until after playing its first game.

“The advantage of being here for going on 10 years is that the kids know what’s expected of them. They know what’s expected of them on defense. They know what we’re trying to do on offense,” said Junction City coach Kendall Hutcheson. “We had nine guys who did not play football, and I think about six out of those nine played the other night (against Crossett). I actually started five guys who didn’t play football.

“We just went out there, and I told them, ‘You guys are in a little bit better basketball shape. You’re not banged up. We’ll go out there with you guys and rotate people in.’ We had a couple of football guys who didn’t dress out at all the other night who are going to play, and that hurt us a little bit, but not much, the kids found a way to win anyway.”

With Dual State concluding today and a plethora of games on tap next week that needed to be made up due to the Dragons’ run to the state title, Hutcheson wanted to bring the football players along slowly to allow some bumps and bruises to heal, but the players insisted they were ready to go.

“We came out for practice, and I told them that it would be a little bit shorter practice because we had Dual State and they had to kind of get used to it and they were disappointed we had a shorter practice,” Hutcheson said. “The mindset of the kids at Junction is that, ‘Hey, we’re excited, we won a state championship. What’s next?’ That’s the great thing about the kids here. They don’t want to sit around doing nothing. They want the next challenge, and they’re excited about the next challenge. Dhante (Gibson) didn’t play for us Saturday. He was pretty banged up after having 20-something carries Friday night. He came out for practice and said, ‘Coach, I’m ready.’ I told them they could take all week if they needed to, but everybody was out and ready to practice.

“It’s fun to watch these kids go from one sport to the next and how hard they play and compete and how they want to compete at the next level and for the next sport.

“It’s tough at times, because I think over the last nine years, we’ve averaged about three days of practice before we’ve played a game. This year, it was zero days of practice, but it says a lot about our kids when you can go from one sport to the next and still be successful. It’s just their mindset and their toughness. I always enjoy watching that.”

After spending the last two years competing at the 3A level, Junction City is back in the 8-2A with a squad that offers plenty of intrigue.

“I think we’ve got two of the better post guys in the state of Arkansas on the team,” Hutcheson said. “Guard-wise, we’re really going to be inexperienced. We’ll have one senior that will play some guard for us, then will have a bunch of juniors and sophomores, even a freshman this year that’s moved up that’s starting for us. We’re really young at the guard spot and pretty seasoned inside.

“Usually when you have some pretty good post players and some guards who can shoot it a little bit, you can have a pretty successful season. A lot of our success is going to depend on some guys stepping up and taking care of the basketball. As always, we set our expectations and our goals really high. We’re excited about the year.”

Seniors Jerrodney Tubbs and Charles Hoof anchor the post spots for the Dragons.

“Jerrodney is sitting there about 6-3, 240 and is very skilled in the post,” Hutcheson said. “Charles has grown just a little bit since last year and has really thinned up a little bit. He’s about 6-5 and getting up and down the court really well. He’s really improved for us.”

Fresh off of winning MVP honors in the 2A state title game, senior Dhante Gibson returns to play a dual role for the Dragons.

“He will be playing a guard/forward spot for us,” Hutcheson said. “Dhante’s experienced and knows what big games are about. I think he’ll help us a lot there.”

Junior guards Jakendall Henderson and Harlandus Frazier are also back to provide experience in the backcourt.

“He came off the bench for us last year, and he’s very skilled offensively,” Hutcheson said of Henderson. “Harlandus shoots the ball well and plays extremely hard on the defensive end.”

But while the Dragons have some upperclassmen that have been battle-tested, Junction City has a deep group of sophomores that have an opportunity to make a big impression.

Sophomore Cameron Frazier is one player to keep a close eye on as the season develops.

“Cam is a guy that I think by the end of the year, a lot of people are going to be talking about him,” Hutcheson said. “He’s a good player, very solid. He’s still got to learn to be more aggressive with the ball. He’s growing and about 6-2, 6-3. He’s starting to shoot the ball better.”

Fellow sophomores Devontay Gilbert along with Tate and Tanner Barnett add to the Dragons’ depth.

“We’ve got a good mix,” Hutcheson said. “I think the other night for the first game of the year, we dressed out 15 and played 11. They did a pretty good job.”

But the backcourt is where the Dragons lack experience with freshman Ryan Allen and sophomore Zak Brown expected to play big roles, but Hutcheson believes the duo will be fine once they settle in.

“I think it always concerns you when you have young guards handling the ball, and you’re relying on them to get the ball up the court,” Hutcheson said. “But the kids that we have that are going to be handling the ball and taking care of it, I feel pretty good about.

“I think it may take us just a few games to get into it and understand what we’re trying to do, but hopefully within the first two or three weeks, we can start getting in a little rotation and start to understand what we’re trying to do and get a little more experience. When that happens, I think we’re going to be OK.”

It’s not often a freshman starts immediately on the varsity squad, but Allen’s play over the summer dictated the move.

“He makes really good decisions with the ball and shoots the ball well,” Hutcheson said. “During the summer, everybody wanted him on their team. It will take him just a little bit of time to get used to the speed of the high school game, but I think he’s going to be pretty special at the point.”

Brown is expected to play at both guard spots.

“Zak is like a little stick of dynamite,” Hutcheson said. “He’s not very big, but he shoots the ball extremely well and attacks the hole really well. He plays defense hard. He’s a good ball player.”

Having spent the last two years in 3A, Hutcheson is getting reacquainted with the 8-2A.

“You’ve got some good teams in the conference,” Hutcheson said. “I watched Hampton play the other night, and they beat Lafayette County by close to 30 and they got through beating Harmony Grove by 21. They’re really starting to play well. I’ve haven’t seen Woodlawn play in the last three years, but I’m talking to coaches, and they’re putting up 70, 80, 90 points.

“They had some success last year, so they’re going to be tough and a challenge to stop. Coach (Josh) Langley has been a doing a good job at Parkers Chapel, and Fordyce is young, athletic and talented, so we’ve got some good teams around here that can play.”

Although the Dragons will have some catching up do with conference games being made up, Hutcheson said he wants his team to keep improving every day.

“We don’t get to rest, we’re just jumping right in to it, but our goal is for the end of the year,” Hutcheson said.

“That’s what we play for. We play for the district tournament, regional tournament and state tournament. We worry about hitting our stride and playing our best ball at the end of the year. Anything until then is a bonus, and we just try to keep improving every game and worry about us more than the other things we can’t control.”

The Dragons reached the semifinals of the 3A state tournament last year, and if the Dragons are to have continued success, it will come down to how well they shoot.

“I think for us this year with so many young faces and new people, I like our chemistry,” Hutcheson said. “I think the key for us is the way we shoot the ball. Right now, the guys who didn’t play football have been shooting the ball extremely well. The other night, I think we shot about 36 percent from the 3-point line, and we haven’t done that since I’ve been here.

“We haven’t had a very good shooting team I don’t think any year I’ve been here as far as 3-point percentage. It’s not the kids’ fault. They all play football and they can’t get in the gym because they’re in football. We just get a little bit in during the summer so they don’t get to work on their shot much. Everything else they’ve done has been excellent, attacking the rim and they play super, super hard. Our kids always do that.

“This year, we’ve got those kids who don’t play football and they’ve been working on their shot a lot, and our shooting has been looking very, very good. I think if we can shoot the ball with the post guys that we have, if we can put some shooters out their on the floor with them and keep people from doubling our posts and being able to collapse in the lane and just play a tight zone like they’ve done in the past, I think we’re going to be pretty tough to handle.”