By DAVE KITCHELL
Tribune sports editor
February 28, 2008 11:47 pm
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Of all 100 teams in the IHSAA’s Class 4A, only three improved their won-lost record from last season to this season any more than the Kokomo Wildkats.
For second-year coach Brian McCauley that seven game jump — from 5-15 last season to 12-8 this campaign — means good things happen to those who work hard.
“That’s really encouraging,” he said. “Our players should be excited and have confidence in themselves. It’s been a combination of their talent, good attitude and hard work that has gotten them to this point.”
Of course as nice as the 12-8 finish and 4-3 mark in the North Central Conference is, it means little tonight when the Kats open play in the Lafayette Sectional. At 6 o’clock, the Kats will tip-off with McCutcheon (16-5), a team that beat Kokomo 62-52 two months ago.
The winner will very likely earn a championship game date on Saturday with the host Jeff Bronchos (21-1), who in Friday’s nightcap, play Harrison (4-17), a team Jeff pounded by 51 points during the season.
McCauley said improvement from top to bottom has been the focus since November.
“Going into the season we wanted to see marked improvement and we’ve seen that,” he said. “We wanted to improve our team defense and rebounding especially and we’ve done that. Playing better defense has a lot to do with effort and we’ve seen that improve as well.
“We’ve gotten stronger and mentally tougher too. Last year we had one primary scorer and we were too easy to guard. We have much better [scoring] balance and our interior play has improved. We’re getting to the free throw line more often.”
Statistics back up McCauley’s comment. Kokomo has outshot its opponents from the field (47 percent to 40 percent) and the Kats have taken 102 more three throws than the opposition. Those numbers are virtually reversed from last season.
The scoring balance McCauley noted is also evident in the statistics. Patrick Hopkins leads the scoring at 12.1 points and is comfortably followed by a pack of players including T.J. Weir (10.9), Colton Summers (9.7), Tyrone Brown (7.2), Alston Andrews (7.1), Alan Arnett (5.3) and Jacob Blackamore (5.3). All seven of those players were the team’s leading scorer in a game at least once this season.
Led by Hopkins 8.2 rebounds per game, the Kats are nearly dead-even with opponents after last season losing the battle by huge numbers. In other major categories, Andrews leads the team in assists (3.2) and steals (1.6); Weir is the top 3-point shooter (42.4 percent) and Brown leads in overall shooting (59.3).
Kokomo and McCutcheon each come into tonight’s game with a full head of steam. The Kats won six of their last seven games and the Mavs knocked out their final four opponents.
On Jan. 5, Kokomo absorbed a 62-52 loss to McCutcheon in a Saturday night road game. That night, McCauley said his team wasn’t focused — and it showed. The Kats trailed 49-34 after three quarters, trimmed the lead to 52-48, but couldn’t get over the hump.
McCauley expects his team to be mentally ready this time around, but he knows it will take a complete effort to advance to Saturday’s championship.
“We have to do a much better job defensively,” McCauley said, noting the Mavs’ 56 percent shooting (22 of 39) that night. “When you look at the film, you see we gave them way too many uncontested shots and a good team like McCutcheon will hit them.”
Cory Rush was the Kat-killer that night, hitting four of six 3-pointers en route to a game-high 22 points. He undoubtedly will attract defensive attention tonight.
McCutcheon’s defense also caused Kokomo problems, leading to the Kats’ 38 percent accuracy (19 of 50) from the floor. Only Brown was at his best that night. The 6-foot-2 junior scored a season-high 17 points and hauled down seven boards.
“We shot poorly, but credit McCutcheon’s defense too,” McCauley said. “They have good length with 6-7 [Ethan] Peabody, 6-5 [Kyle] Fleetwood and 6-4 [Kevin] Green. It’s difficult to shoot over them.”
One plus for Kokomo is that neither Andrews, who has scored 30 points in his last two games, nor Arnett, who closed the regular season with 14 points against Maconaquah, played against the Mavs two months ago.
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