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2C McDonald County Press Thursday, November 28, 2019 W i n t e r S p o r t p r e v i e W Rick Peck Special to McDonald County Press Brandon Joines in his first year as head coach of the McDonald County High School boys basketball team inher- its a team that went 5-20 last season and also lost its top two scorers, including Cooper Reece, who joined the 1,000- point club for his career while averaging 20 points a game last season. Joines did greet four players with starting varsity experience in seniors Cade Smith and Cale Adamson and sophomores Pierce Harmon and Cole Martin. Joines said changing the expectations from every player is a high priority at the beginning of the season. "Our goal is to improve our intensity and competitive level this year," Joines said. "We need to be competitive in every single game we play and we need to have the expectation that we are going to be in or winning every single contest. If not, we have no reason to be playing. We have to improve the mental- ity. The mentality was 'it's okay to be mediocre and accept that.' The moment we get out of that expectation, and we have some incoming players and under- classmen that have success in years prior and we need to build on that." Smith is the leading scorer back after averaging seven points a game and four rebounds as a junior. "We need a lot of senior leadership from Cade," Joines said. "We need him to be smart with the ball and comfort- able on the floor. We will need his shooting touch. He can spread the floor as a post and come inside hopefully get some rebounds. He is the one guy coming back with some numbers from last year that were more than role-play- ing. He is going to have to generate points, but he is going to have to lead more in vocal and attitude and just effort." Adamson is also a hustle guy having earned the hustle team award. "He is going to need to bring that exact same mentality to every single possession we have offensively and defensively," Joines said. "That's his leadership role. He might be vocal at times. He is going to be a passion guy. You are going to get a lot of reaction from him, but it needs to be on the positive side. He can bring both and it's Joines Looking To Change Mustangs' Culture RICK PECK/SPECIAL TO MCDONALD COUNTY PRESS The McDonald County High School 2019 varsity boys basketball team. McDonalD county HigH ScHool 2019-2020 BOYS BASKETBALL ROSTER SENIORS Cale Adamson Colliar Gottfried Dylan Allison John Howard Nevin Price Cade Smith Koby McAlister Garrett Spears JUNIORS Jackson Clarkson Irael Marcos SOPHOMORES Eli McClain Teddy Reedybacon Pierce Harmon Cole Martin Colton Ruddick Devin Swanson Bo Leach Garrett Gricks Franky Villatoro Patrick O'Brien Matthew Mora FRESHMEN Sterling Woods Weston Gordon Cross Dowd Jack Parnell Hunter Leach Isaac Behm Kasen Hahn Eli Jordan Jaxson Harrell Dalton McClain SEE MUSTANGS PAGE 3C going to be up to him to maintain and lead by example, but the hustle has to be there." Harmon and Martin started the season on the freshman team, but by DATE OPPONENT LEVEL TIME Dec. 3 Aurora HS Var/JV/9th 5 p.m. Dec. 4-7 at Webb City Freshman Tourney TBA Dec. 5-7 at Webb City JV Tourney TBA Dec. 9-14 at Monett Freshman Tourney TBA Dec. 12-14 Battle on the Ridge Varsity TBA Dec. 16 at Gravette Var/JV/9th 4:30 p.m. Dec. 17 at Webb City HS Var/JV/9th 4:30 p.m. Dec. 19 Carthage HS Var/JV/9th 4:30 p.m. Dec. 21 at Carl Junction Var/JV/9th 4 p.m. Dec. 26-28 at Neosho Holiday Classic Varsity TBA Jan. 14 at Monett HS Var/JV/9th 5 p.m. Jan. 17 at Seneca Var/JV/9th 5 p.m. DATE OPPONENT LEVEL TIME Jan. 20-25 at Mt. Vernon Freshmen Tourney TBA Jan. 23 at Lamar Var/JV 6 p.m. Jan 24 Joplin HS Var/JV/9th 4:30 p.m. Jan. 28 Cassville HS Var/JV/9th 5 p.m. Jan. 31 Neosho HS Var/JV/9th 4:30 p.m. Feb. 4 Strafford HS Var/JV 4:30 p.m. Feb. 7 East Newton Var/JV 6 p.m. Feb. 14 Nevada Var/JV/9th 4:30 p.m. Feb. 18 TBA East Div Var/JV 6 p.m. Feb. 20 at Mount Vernon Var/JV/9th 5 p.m. Feb. 27 at Marshfield Var/JV/9th 5 p.m. Mar. 2-7 District Tourney Varsity TBA VarSity/JV/9tH BoyS BaSketBall ScHeDule the end of the season they were both starting on the varsity team. "Pierce is going to have to lead the offense," Joines said. "He is a guy we are going to rely on to get things started and take control at times. It's not just going to be all him obviously because we are going to be a team focus, but he is going