Nate Schneider
Sports Scene
Alma boys basketball coach JT Cleveland has been asked plenty this season whether he is surprised about the strong start his squad is enjoying.
To an extent, yes. But he also knew the potential for the current version of the Panthers was immense, an outlook they are clearly living up to.
With a 56-31 victory at Fowlerville on Jan. 22, Alma improved its record to 9-1 and pushed its win streak to four games. The only setback thus far is a 48-42 loss at Swan Valley, pushing the Panthers down to second place in the Tri-Valley Conference Central standings.
“It proves that the kids we have this year wanted to continue to play championship basketball and at that high level we have the last five years,” Cleveland said. “They’ve worked their absolute butt off all summer, all fall, last spring. And now every practice is a dogfight. They’re just getting after it and competing like mad. When you do those things, great things happen.”
Alma graduated five key seniors – Konner Vedrode, CJ Thompson, Anthony Humm, Ryan Cornejo and Troy Bastian – from last year’s roster. Gone was a lot of scoring punch and leadership, but the Panthers have managed to prowl on with a new-look team.
“We go through [senior point guard] Damon Anguiano when we need a basket, whether we look for him to score or find a teammate,” Cleveland explained. “But we don’t necessarily have that one go-to scorer like Vedrode was. And we’re not as big as we have been the last several years, but we’re actually rebounding better than we did last year. Our press always helps disrupt opponents, but we’re also defending really well in the half-court. I love this team and I’m proud of the way they’ve been able to get rolling so far.”
The Panthers finished last season 17-7 overall and 12-2 in TVC Central play before falling to Frankenmuth in the Class B regionals.
Now Alma is ahead of last year’s pace record-wise as it prepares for another tough home game Jan. 25 versus 7-2 Hemlock.
“We’ve got some tough games ahead against some really good opponents so we need to keep our focus and continue to get after it,” Cleveland added.