By John Raffel
The Carson City-Crystal boys basketball team was almost matching the girls’ squad win-for-win for awhile. But even after a few losses, they are still enjoying a competitive season.
After seven games, the boys were 5-2 in varsity action.
“The guys have done a good job off the start,” said first-year coach Cory Schneider. “With a new coach and new system, you never know how they’re going to react. I think we’re off to a good start, especially on the defensive end.”
An early-season win over Fulton was a highlight for the Eagles. “That was a good measuring tool to see how good we could possibly be and was probably our team win so far,” Schneider said. “I think the strength of the team has come from our defensive end. With our defense and rebounding, we have the ability to slow some of the teams down.”
Leading scorer and rebounder has been senior forward Grant Gage, who is averaging 12 points and six rebounds per game. “He’s been pretty good,” Schneider said. “Last year, he had a good year, too. We knew what to expect from him. Grant does a good job of getting the ball to other players.”
Schneider wants his team to contend for the Mid-State Activities Conference title but realizes that they will need to get past Sacred Heart Academy, their main league rival.
“We have the ability to win the league,” Schneider said. “We can win district, too. Those our our two goals.”
The key to reaching those goals, Schneider said, are obvious. “It’s ball movement and doing a good job on the offensive end.
“We emphasize defense and taking care of the basketball,” Schneider said.
The Eagles lost to Sacred Heart and Beal City in their first seven games. An impressive victory was a 43-33 win over Lansing Christian.