It’s taken a while, but the Archbishop Thomas Murphy boys basketball team is ready, willing and eager to begin league play.
That would not have been the case at the start of the season last month, when the team wasn’t at full strength because several players were otherwise occupied with the Class 1A boys soccer tournament and the football playoffs.
The Wildcats wrapped up their non-conference schedule last week with a pair of victories at Lakewood’s holiday tournament and then a triple-overtime win over Cascade Christian.
Archbishop Murphy coach Jerry Zander likes what he’s seen of his team, which is 7-2 overall.
“We’ve been playing pretty well and kind of came together after not having the soccer guys for the first week and the football guys for the first three weeks,” he said. “It’s nice to get about six games where we’re all together. For the most part, the close games, we’re winning.”
The Lakewood tournament was a good test for the Wildcats in a couple of respects. Archbishop Murphy beat its host 76-75 in double-overtime to open the tournament and then knocked off Greybull of Wyoming 55-32 in the championship game Dec. 30 at Lakewood High School.
Winning games on the road isn’t something the Wildcats are used to, Zander said. Last year, Archbishop Murphy didn’t win any road contests until the final two games of the regular season.
So to beat Lakewood on its home court bodes well for the rest of the season. Wes Taylor scored a game-high 26 points, while Luke Hagel added 16.
Greybull presented a far different problem for Archbishop Murphy. The Wyoming team fielded perhaps the tallest lineup the Wildcats are likely to face all season.
“They were huge,” Zander said. “They had a 6-foot-6 point guard. That’s how big they were. It was nice to play such a big team. It gave us a challenge for rebounding. Our quickness helped us out in that game.”
Taylor led the way again with 18 points and Hagel added 11.
The key to the victory was the Wildcats’ rebounding, said Zander, who added that his players outworked the opposition.
“We had five guys that went after rebounds on the court,” he said. “They only probably had one or two. We were more physical than they were … we outrebounded them by a margin of nine because all five of our guys hit the boards pretty hard.”
Cascade Christian was a team in sharp contrast to Greybull. The Cougars’ lineup lacked height, but more than made up for it with speed.
“We weren’t able to press,” Zander said. “They were man-for-man quicker but they weren’t very big and their quickness hurt us.”
The Wildcats have been forcing their opponents to turn the ball over an average of 20 times a game but only mustered 11 takeaways against Cascade Christian, the lowest number of the season.
It took three overtime periods but Archbishop Murphy prevailed 62-60.
Hagel led all scorers with 17 points. Taylor scored 13 but was limited to only five shots the entire game. He connected on seven of nine free throws. Brent McCann had 12 points and Chris Mitchell added 11.
Taylor found himself the center of attention against the Cougars.
“Cascade Christian was focused on stopping Wes,” Zander said. “Our team this year is pretty balanced. The strength of our team is that we’ve got four or five guys that can score at any point.”
Archbishop Murphy has shot 48 percent from the field this season and has been outrebounding its opponents by about 10 boards a game.
“Those two things have been really helping us,” Zander said.
Mitchell, a 6-6 center, grabs about everything under the basket and is averaging 12 rebounds and 11 points a game, according to Zander.
For a good stretch of the preseason schedule, Taylor has been scoring in the mid-20s. Hagel, a senior point guard, has come on strong the last six games and is shooting almost 50 percent from the field.
McCann has brought a steady influence to the Wildcats with a 10-point, six-rebound and four-assist performance night in and night out.
“He’s probably been the most consistent player all year,” Zander said. “He really hasn’t had a bad game all year.”
The only downside Zander has seen so far is an increase in turnovers.
“We’ve been trying to run more this year,” Zander said. “We understand that’s going to happen more when we push the ball up the court.”
After nearly a month of non-league games, Zander and his players are itching to get some league games under their belt.
The Northwest 1A League competition will be tougher, but the Wildcats feel they are ready to get started.
“They’re confident,” Zander said of his players. “Our kids are ready for league to start.”
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