Published: January 06, 2009 12:05 pm         

Rugged week for Wildcats

Coalgate boys to face tests versus Kingston, at Bethel

Coalgate — Third-year coach Taylor Wiebener and his Coalgate boys squad should find out this week what happens with a groups of Wildcats wanders into a hornet’s nest.

Coalgate — 7-1 and ranked No. 15 in Class 3A — will come out of the Christmas break and collide head-on with what figures to be the most demanding five days on the team’s regular-season schedule. On Tuesday, the Wildcats will host 10th-ranked Kingston, then they will spend the next four days at the Bethel Tournament, which has drawn one of the strongest fields in its history.

“It’s going to be a bear of a week,” said Wiebener, whose club faces a demanding first-round contest with 4-2 Byng at 1:20 p.m. Wednesday and, with a win, will probably meet Class 4A No. 9 Newcastle, the tournament’s top seed, in the semifinals, with host Bethel (No. 10 in 4A) on the other side of the bracket. “We play Kingston on Tuesday and Byng on Wednesday, and they’ve given us fits both years we’ve played (at Bethel). That tournament is really loaded this year.

“I kind of backed off our Christmas break schedule a little bit, because I knew when we got back we were going to have four tough games in five days,” he explained. “I think we got better over the break, and hopefully we’ll be rested and ready to go. This week should be a true test of how far we’ve come and how far we’ve got to go.”

The Wildcats entered the 2008-2009 campaign with high expections, and so far they have been as good as advertised. Wiebener — who took his first Coalgate squad to the 2007 Class 2A state tournament after the Wildcats were unranked all season — returned all five starters off last year’s 17-9 squad, and through eight games Coalgate has allowed only about 40 points a game while scoring 52 per outing.

“I think defensively we’re ahead of our offense,” Wiebener said. “We do a lot of defensive work in practice. That’s what we pride ourselves on. My theory is that every night you can bring your defense. There are nights when the ball won’t go in the hole, but if you keep the other team from scoring we give ourselves a chance to win.”

After suffering their only loss of the season (58-54) to 3A No. 7 Valliant on Dec. 12, the Wildcats came back to beat then-No. 4 Eufaula, 53-39, the next day, and they extended their pre-holiday winning streak to three with victories over 5-2 Antlers and 5-3 Hartshorne.

“The guys are doing a really good job,” Wiebener noted. “We just want to get better as much as we can from game to game. Essentially, that’s what the regular season is for — to get your guys ready for the playoffs.

“Our kids are really self-motivated...for the most part, they work hard every day,” he added. “We’re not real deep, so our second team has to work hard to help us prepare. At times, when our starters aren’t ready to go (in practice), our second string will come in and wear them out.”

Tyler Ennis, a 6-4 senior post player, led Coalgate in scoring and rebounding as a junior, and he leads the team in both categories this season. Wiebener said Ennis — averaging 16 points and 10 rebounds through eight games — is doing everything he did last year to help the Wildcats win.

“He’s a lot the same type of player he was last year,” Wiebener said of Ennis. “Tyler is a guy who doesn’t force a lot. He’s shooting right around 70 percent from (two-point range) and 40 percent (4-for-10) from (beyond the arc). He doesn’t jump real well, but he’s smart and knows how to use his body to get position. Once he gets his big paws on it, he hangs onto it, because he’s so strong.”

The other six players in Coalgate’s rotation — juniors J. W. Stanley and Nick Thompson, seniors Luke Palmer, Brent Watkins and Justin Grim and sophomore Jaymin Riley — have completely different body types and playing styles than the 240-pound Ennis, and Wiebener said all six provide solid complements to their high-scoring center.

“Toward the end of last year, J. W. really started stepping up his game offensively,” Wiebener said of the 6-1 Stanley, who is second on the team in both scoring (14) and rebounding (7) average. “Defensively, he’s always been there, but he wasn’t too aggressive offensively at the start of last year. He got more aggressive at the end of the year, and he’s picked up where he left off. He’s pretty solid from 15 feet on in and crashed the glass really hard.

“Nick is a really, really athletic kid with long arms,” Wiebener said of the 6-2 Thompson, who is averaging 8.3 points per game (up from 4.5 last season) and was the leading receiver on the Coalgate football team this fall. “He’s 6-2 but has a 6-6 wingspan and jumps really well. His shot is starting to come on...he just needs to get more consistent. He works really hard at both ends and crashes the glass hard. He’s a guy we’re going to need to step up and score later in the year and in the playoffs if we want to make a deep run.”

Palmer, at six feet tall and “only about 140 pounds”, is averaging 6.5 points per game and is Coalgate’s defensive leader, while Watkins is a two-year starter at point guard who has worked on improving his offense as a senior.

“I feel like Luke is one of the best man defenders around,” Wiebener said. “He’s really aggressive defensively, but he’s smart and he has a nose for the ball. he can pressure the ball and force a lot of turnovers. He has to get more consistent with his shot, but he’s starting to get more confidence. I don’t expect him to score a bunch — I expect him to be a stopper on defense.

“Defensively, Brent is really good,” he noted. “He’s actually starting to shoot the 3 a little better. That’s something we worked on this summer, and he’s starting to prove he can hit a shot.”

Riley, a 5-10 guard, has averaged 6.5 points off the bench and has the work ethic to become a star for Wiebener before his high school career ends, while Grim — a move-in from Tulsa — has only recently returned to basketball but has a lot of natural talent.

“He handles the ball real well,” Wiebener said of Riley. “Jaymin shoots the ball pretty well and plays defense. He’s a gym rat. He’s here all the time and he eats, sleeps and breathes basketball. He’s coming on, and I think in the next year or two he’s going to be a really, really special player.

“Justin hadn’t played basketball since he was in eighth grade,” Wiebener explained. “Offensively, he’s a good player. He shoots the ball reall well, but he’s just kind of indecisive. He just has to get back in the flow of the game.”

After being unranked for a single day during Wiebener’s first two seasons as head coach, the Coalgate boys moved into the rankings several weeks ago and, with about six weeks left in the season, look like part of a long list of contenders for the eight state tournament berths in a wide open Class 3A.

“3A is loaded,” Wiebener said. “You have some really good teams at the top of the rankings, and a lot of teams that aren’t ranked at the top are improved from last year. On any given night, there is somebody who isn’t ranked who can step up and beat somebody who is highly ranked.”

Wiebener said the recent respect coaches around the state have given his fledgling program is nice — but not critical — to any success the Wildcats have the rest of the season.

“When we made it to the state tournament two years ago, we made it as an unranked team,” he noted. “To me, the rankings don’t matter a whole lot. You’re either the better team or you’re not. I like (being ranked), and it’s good for our kids, their parents and our school, but as far as basketball goes, I try not to make a huge deal out of it because we don’t want our kids to get a big head and forget how to play the game.

“I don’t want to just be happy with getting to the state tournament,” Wiebener added. “We’ve still got a huge upside. I feel like we’re getting better every game, and I just want to keep the guys motivated and working hard to get better every day.”

And, although a strong showing over the next six days could move Coalgate up the rankings and help the Wildcats earn a better postseason draw, Wiebener said this week won’t be the defining moment of his team’s season.

“Even if we lose a couple of games this coming week, it won’t be the end of the world,” he said. “It’s all about February and March. We’re trying to prepare for the playoffs, get as good as we can before then, and make a run.”

     

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