WEST FORK — In what could be the final league play of this summer, both the Decatur and Gentry senior boys' basketball teams traveled south July 19 and 21 to participate in a team camp hosted by the West Fork High School basketball program.
Teams from all over Arkansas participated in the two-day event, including Greenland, Lincoln, Haas Hall, Lamar, Cedarville, Berryville, Mountainburg, Dover, Farmington, Conway St. Joseph, and host team West Fork.
Each game consisted of two 15-minute running-clock halves with a minute halftime. In the event of the scores within 6 points at the one minute mark in the game, the clock stops for fouls. All shooting fouls are one shot for two points.
For John Unger, Decatur boys' basketball coach, this team camp, like the one at John Brown University in June, was a chance to work out problems in the offense and defense in a real game setting.
"This game experience and practice time was valuable for our younger guys and is also a way for the coaches to evaluate our players in game situations, and practice was a way for us to work individually with the players to help improve their skills," said Unger. "We were able to use the games as an evaluation tool to see what we needed to work on and used the daily practice time to correct our problems."
In addition to the West Fork and John Brown team camps, the Bulldogs hosted two summer basketball leagues in mid June in which the Gentry Pioneers, Eureka Springs Highlanders and the West Fork Tigers all participated. In these and the team camps, it was all about coming together as a team more than winning the game.
"This summer was a great opportunity for our team to come together as a group and get extra work in," Unger said. "We were able to play 20 games this summer, which is an entire high school season, and we practiced all summer at the elementary and high school gyms."
For Brent Hester, the new Pioneer boys' basketball coach, the team camps and summer leagues provided a chance for his players to get acquainted and learn his particular style of coaching. This will give Hester the chance to concentrate on his game plan and less on fundamentals, which the players gained during their 20-game summer schedule. These camps may well be the perfect prescription for a winning season in 2016-17.
As for the Bulldogs, Unger was able to work with his basketball team and watch them mature and work together as a team.
"This summer was an opportunity for our seniors to mature and they have done a good job with leading our team," Unger said. "We will rely on seniors Leng Lee, Bracy Owens, Jay Porter, Wyatt Bingham and Marck Guadarrama for their leadership this year to carry us through the ups and downs of the season, and they will set the tone of our practices and games."
A few of Unger's younger players showed exceptional skill and dedication during the 20-game off-season schedule.
"I was really impressed with Levi Newman's growth this summer," Unger said. "He put in the practice to get better and he is very coachable, which will pay off for us this season."
With this summer's experience under the belts of the Decatur Bulldog boys' basketball team, the regular season promises to be among the best in the past five years.
"Our guys really enjoyed the competition and worked hard this summer to get better," said Unger. "We are excited about the upcoming season and looking forward to a championship year."
Game scores from West Fork:
July 19
Lincoln 34, Gentry 27
Cedarville 33, Gentry 24
Dover 32, Gentry 27
Haas Hall 32, Decatur 24
Decatur 34, Dover 25
Greenland 29, Decatur 26
July 21
Dover 49, Gentry 33
Farmington 25, Decatur 14
Decatur 34, Haas Hall 22
Lamar 29, Decatur 26
Sports on 07/27/2016