BOYS BASKETBALL PREVIEW: Clarkton hopes hunger sparks success

Photo by Dustin Ward, staff
Pictured is the Clarkton High School boys basketball team. Members of the team are No. 1 Caleb Plunkett, No. 2 Izaya Gorman, No. 3 Lee Matney, No. 4 Rica Brown, No. 5 Wyatt MacMurray, No. 10 Allen Matney, No. 11 Kevin Perkins, No. 12 Hunter Parker, No. 15 Caleb Underwood, No. 20 Jontavious Parker, No. 22 Kade Coleman, No. 23 Orlando Rivera, No. 30 David Cooper, No. 31 Zach Newton, No. 32 Rickey Myers and No. 33 Billy Riley.

The Clarkton Reindeer boys basketball program enters the 2018-19 season with a surplus of underclassmen in its program.

Clarkton's roster is composed of five freshmen, seven sophomores, one junior, and three seniors.

“We are freshmen and sophomore-heavy,” Clarkton coach Jordan Bidewell said. “We are also lacking a bench so we are going to need some of the underclassmen to step up and provide us some depth.”

Clarkton does have the luxury of returning three varsity starters. Senior guard Lee Matney, sophomore guard Allen Matney, and sophomore guard Izaya Gorman all saw significant playing time on last year’s varsity squad that finished 11-14.

“Lee Matney was our leading scorer, best defender and best rebounder last year,” Bidewell said. “His little brother Allen also started as a freshman last season. He got some experience last year and has kind of grown up on the basketball court now. We are excited about those two having the opportunity to play together during Lee’s last year.

“Izaya is another sophomore that started the majority of his freshman season,” Bidewell added. “He can handle the ball pretty well."

Bidewell said senior small forward Billy Riley is also a strong candidate to start on varsity.

“He’s was probably our first or second guy off the bench last year,” Bidewell said. “He’s really shown a lot of improvement over the summer. He was a guy that just gave our starters a few minutes of rest last year but has really developed into someone who can take over a starting role. He has really bought in this year.”

Rica Brown, Caleb Plunkett, Caleb Underwood, and Kevin Perkins are among the incoming freshmen that could see time on junior varsity and varsity.

“We need experience more than anything right now,” Bidewell said. “So I’m hoping to play seven or eight on both squads and play some of the underclassmen six quarters a night.”

Bidewell hopes to once again speed things up in an effort to compensate for his squad’s lack of size.

“We had a couple kids that didn’t come out this year that we were banking on being our bigger guys,” Bidewell said. “When they decided they weren’t playing for their own reasons we decided we have to go all-in on a fast-paced style of play. We are going to try to push the ball on offense and press quite a bit on defense. Hopefully, we do it in a more organized fashion this year. Last year we tried it a little bit but we were fast without reason. We are hoping to tweak it a little bit this year to make it look like it’s organized.”

Clarkton has its eyes on catching two-time defending champ Risco in the Tri-County Conference Tournament. Clarkton has finished runner-up to Risco at the tournament each of the last two seasons.

“Until somebody beats Risco it’s theirs,” Bidewell said. “Brandon really likes the group of seniors he has this year and he does a great job with them. It seems like we’ve played Risco and Gideon four or five times a year since I’ve been here. Hopefully, our kids are hungry. But Risco is well-coached and has six seniors that are used to winning. That’s going to make them tough to beat. Our goal is to be competitive in every conference game which will also give us a chance to be in the championship again.”

Clarkton will complete in a newly restructured Class 1, District 1 with Delta, Delta C-7, Gideon, North Pemiscot, Richland, Risco, Southland and defending champion Scott County Central at the end of the season.

“Cooter moved out and we added Delta and Richland,” Bidewell said of the nine-team district. “We only play Richland at the junior high level so we don’t know a great deal about them. I saw Delta last year and know they have a lot of kids coming back. I also know Richland is kind of excited about their group from talking to Coach Crane. I think adding those two teams just makes our district more competitive.

“You’ve also got Scott County Central and Risco that can always win the district at any time,” Bidewell continued. “Gideon is another one people better not sleep on this year. Hopefully, we can be competitive with that group, but it could go either way between teams one through five or six. It makes it a fun tournament when things are that competitive.”

Clarkton’s first game is against host Van Buren at the Van Buren Shootout on Nov. 23 at 6:30 p.m.

“We never really play well over there,” Bidewell said. “We usually play the morning game. Hopefully, by playing the last game it will be a better atmosphere for us and we will come to play.”

Clarkton Reindeer Basketball Schedule