Scots set to host Rockets

SPARTA — The Highland High School boys basketball team, winners of two of its last three games, play host to the Ridgedale Rockets tonight in a Mid-Ohio Athletic Conference Red Division showdown.

The Scots (4-5, 1-4 MOAC) are coming off a 65-63 overtime win at River Valley on Saturday. That followed a tough 60-42 loss to Cardington just two days before.

“We kind of were fooled because I thought we played very well when we played Johnstown. I thought we would come back and have that same mentality for Cardington, but we did not,” Highland coach Mike Hoyng said. “Then we had one practice and got the win at River Valley, which they seldom ever lose up there. To get a win up there was very huge for our program. I’m just hoping that our kids understand that we can play at that level. If we do it a little more consistently, we have a chance to be a very good basketball team. Our big challenge is trying to be consistent with our play.”

The Scots’ recent run of success shows how the team has come into its own. The Highland defense has continued to play well while the offense has begun to put up points consistently.

Senior Gar Keen has led the way, averaging nearly 15 points a game. The emergence of Kasey Fifer has also helped the team get on track.

“I think it is a matter of maturity,” Hoyng said. “Last year, Gar was asked to do a lot of things because of injuries and other factors. We have been able to move him off where he doesn’t have as much ball-handling responsibilities. That has taken a little pressure off of him and he has responded. ... Kasey is probably the biggest plus for us. When he is playing well, the whole team plays well. He is a big factor in our offense. The nights when he has mentally come to play, we have been very good. ... Those two kids have really matured.

“Warren Hinkle is probably the hardest working kid we’ve had in our program. He really gets after it up and down the floor. Defensively, he is guarding the best players, and he has become a big rebounder. We have really relied on him. Shane Chapman and Matt Slack, both seniors, come off the bench and contribute really solid minutes for us and have played very well so far. We’re hoping to get some more mileage out of them as the season wears on. I really think that these five seniors have stepped up and accepted more of a responsibility to the program.”

In other area games tonight, Johnstown is at Northridge; Loudonville visits Centerburg; Clear Fork travels to West Holmes; Fredericktown is at Danville; and East Knox visits Utica. On Saturday, East Knox is at Fredericktown.

Ridgedale poses many challenges for the Scots with the biggest being J.R. Weston. The leading scorer in the MOAC, Weston is averaging 26 points a game. He has scored more than 30 on two occasions (38 vs. Elgin on 12/7/06, 34 vs., Pleasant on 12/20/06) and has accounted for more than 48 percent of the Rockets’ offense (234-of-488 points scored).

“There are a couple of different ways we are going to try and attack him,” said Hoyng. “Hopefully, we can slow him down because obviously, you are not going to stop a player of his caliber. We just hope we can put him in enough tough situations where he misses a few times and we can take care of those misses properly. We’re not only going to focus on him. This is a team game and there are still four other kids out there playing with him. We don’t want to just play J.R. We are playing Ridgedale and Ridgedale has good enough players at those other positions that if we don’t defend properly, don’t rebound properly, it is going to be a long night for us. We are trying to come up with some things that will help us contain J.R. without sacrificing the other kids.”

Starting the new year, Highland has many things it still wants to accomplish. For any of their goals to happen, however, the Scots must find an even keel.

“We would like to start stringing some games together,” Hoyng said. “That’s the big key from the coaching staff’s standpoint — to try and become more consistent. We need to know game in and game out who we can count on and what we can count on from each player. If we can get to that level, we can talk about opportunities that might be available to us down the road. Right now, we are just harping on being consistent with our play and being mentally ready to play consistently.”

Despite their record in the MOAC, Hoyng still believes his team has a chance to win the Red Division. With all MOAC games counting toward their league record and not just those in the Red Division, there are many opportunities for the Scots to improve.

“We feel like we have enough quality players to be competitive in our league structure,” Hoyng said. “The kids have really bought into how we want to run our offense. They are starting to execute it a little better, and defensively, we have played fairly well most of the season. ... I am very comfortable with where we are at right now. We just hope that we continue to show that we can be consistent. I think we are a team that can, in the second half of the season with as many league games we have left to play, challenge teams and be a factor. Whether or not we win it or not remains to be seen. It may not happen, but we can be a factor in deciding who does.

“We are not shutting the door on winning the conference. We have shown with our win at River Valley that we can win some other places. With the way our league is set up this year, you better be prepared to play every night. Anybody can beat anybody. It happens. You just have to be prepared.”

The Scots’ road begins tonight against Ridgedale at 6 p.m.