Nevada County Picayune and Gurdon Times Newspaper Archive

Squad Does Turn-Around From Previous Season

There were plenty of reasons for the Prescott Curley Wolf basketball team to howl this season.

First, the team did a complete 180 degree shift from the 1995-96 season of 1-20 to an 18-8 campaign this year on the hardwood, with a 10-2 league mark in the ever-tough 7AA.

The Wolves also managed to get four members of the squad named All-District (C.D. Flemons, Brandon Wilson, Jason Morrow and Carlos Haynie), with a fifth (Rashad Johnson) earning an honorable mention for All-District. Flemons was also tabbed for the All-Region and All-State teams.

However, the Wolves will lose six seniors from this crew, though, Coach Hal Landrith said, many of them were relatively inexperienced.

What makes the 96-97 Wolves so remarkable is most of the key players weren't on the team last year, nor did they play in junior high.

Still, Landrith said the team should have gone deeper into the playoffs than it did this season. But, he said the Wolves still had a better than average season.

"Looking at the teams in the state tournament from an athletic standpoint," he said, "we certainly belonged there.

"From a basketball skills standpoint, I'm not sure we did. But that's understandable when you consider we have lost nine weeks of our season the past two years for the football playoffs and have no off-season program."

Those returning from the team include Morrow, Tucker Baker, Joseph Dougan, Scott Graham, Brandon Wilson and Scott Hobbs. Landrith said one of these players will have to step up and be a factor in the post position, held by Flemons this year. "We have several candidates," he said, "and, hopefully someone will respond.

"We have a talented group of sophomores coming, and if they work hard and develop like they should, they could see some significant playing time.

"We believe in the team concept and understand no individual honors could be achieved without the help of one's teammates."

And, the Wolves did work together, turning their season around after a slow start.

In fact, the team statistics showed the Wolves with a great defense, as they only allowed 47.3 points per game, while scoring an average of 52.3 each outing.

In addition, the Wolves' field goal percentage was 44.4 percent, as they connected on 448 of 1,008 attempts. The "Killer D" held those wearing the wrong colored jerseys to 41.6 percent from the field, or 416 of 1,001 shots.

However, the Wolves did lose the three point shooting contest, as their foes hit 27.8 percent, while Prescott was a perfect 25 percent from beyond the arc. Of course, this could be because the opposition shot nearly 100 more three-pointers (273) than Prescott (175), which skews the stats.

Because of early season problems, the Wolves were outrebounded by other squads. The Wolves had 25.9 rebounds per game, while their opponents pulled down 28 boards.

Looking at the turnover stats, the Wolves forced 11.9 per game and committed 10 an outing.

Checking individual stats, Flemons dominated with 18.3 points per game with 7.6 boards a contest.

Wilson scored 7.1 points per game, but dished out 4.5 assists every time out.

Scott Hobbs averaged 5.5 points a game, Morrow scored 9.2 ppg, Haynie came in at 7.0 ppg, with Johnson adding 5.9 per contest.

These stats give the 1997-98 Wolves something to shoot to beat, along with those wearing other colored shirts. However, they will have to do this without the benefit of an off-season program, and only getting the full team together at the conclusion of football season.

But, with a little luck and a lot of hard work and dedication, the 97-98 Wolves can play a bit longer next year than did this year's team.