Yough boys seeking improvement after tough season

By: HSSN Staff
Monday, December 4, 2017 | 8:30 PM

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After a tough season for a young team last year, Yough boys basketball will look to build off of that experience and be more competitive.

The Cougars will be young again with six sophomores and six freshmen on the roster.

“The main aspect we want to focus on this year is simply to be more competitive,” coach Casey Copeman said. “As long as we stay in games, we will be able to give ourselves a chance to win, which is the ultimate goal.”

The Cougars will be led by junior Jarett Bach and senior Danny Gibler.

“As long as we work as a team, we will be able to be competitive,” Bach said. “We will still be young this year, but we all have more experience playing with each other than last season. We just have to continue to work.”

The Cougars struggled offensively last year and will focus on getting more open looks and putting more points on the board to pressure opponents.

“This year, we will be looking to push the ball and give ourselves more opportunities to score and working in transition to get more open shots,” Copeman said. “And defensively, we want to focus on the fundamentals and being more physical, forcing them to take bad shots.”

“Last year we made a lot of mental mistakes that we need to limit to take away from turnovers,” Bach said. “We want to be able to score more, and I think that starts on the defensive end, creating turnovers and rebounding the ball, not giving them second chances.”

Even though he has a young team, Copeman knows he has leaders he will be able to depend on, especially Gibler.

“I became head coach when Danny was a freshman, so we have been together all four years,” Copeman said. “He knows what I want out of him and what I expect out of him, particularly with this being his senior year. He knows his role on this team, and he is someone that I know I can depend on.”

“We only lost one senior from last year, so the chemistry is there,” Bach said. “We know each other's game. We just need to feed off each other's energy.”

With the added experience from last season, the Cougars will be looking for a major improvement from last year's 1-21 finish, including an 0-12 mark in Section 1-4A.

“The goal for every season is and will always be to make the playoffs,” Copeman said. “If we compete and reach our goal, it will be important to take it one game at a time.”

“Right now our focus will be to start off strong and continue to improve every game,” Bach said. “In the end, the goal is to simply make the playoffs and give ourselves a chance to contend.”

Yough will tip off against tournament host Brownsville at 5 p.m. Friday.

Cody Scott is a freelance writer.

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