by Beau Wicker
Caston’s sixth sectional championship in boys basketball was certainly a memorable one.
After registering just one win during the regular season, the Comets went on a magical tournament run, winning their sectional and then giving a heavily-favored Bowman Academy squad out of Gary a much closer regional semifinal game than most of the state had anticipated.
Though Caston lost two key players from last year’s team, Sam Jones and Ethan Zartman — who sort of played the role of Bobby Plump or Jimmy Chitwood during the run — they return everybody else.
“We have a lot back but we’re also still a young team,” Caston coach Andy Firth said. “If you look at it, we only have one senior, four juniors and a large sophomore class. We’re still young, we’re still learning, but it’s nice to have experience.”
The lone senior is 6-foot-4 forward Wes Rigney, who was the Loganland Player of the Year as a sophomore and last season averaged 16.3 points, 8.6 rebounds and 4.2 blocks per game en route to All-Loganland honors.
“Wes is the leader,” Firth said. “I think Wes had a really good summer and kept getting better.”
The Comets will actually have the same starting lineup they started out a year ago with as Zartman began last season out with a torn ACL injury. Included among the starters are sophomore guards Trevor Hoover and Allen Russell.
“[Hoover and Russell] are playing like juniors and seniors,” Firth said. “They’re our floor leaders and are starting to understand things more. At the end of the year Trevor had improved a great deal and was a big part of our sectional run. The same with Allen. He’s the best ball-handler on the team. Being so young, they show a tremendous amount of leadership. It’s unbelievable.”
Another player Firth is looking for big things from is junior guard Alex Herd.
“Alex Herd is a huge part of the team,” Firth said. “He’s worked hard during the summer and the school year, and he’ll be huge for us. I think people will be surprised how much he’s improved and how good he’s actually going to be.”
Firth said junior forwards Brant Hartman and Caleb Brown will be the team’s “X factors.”
“They’re athletic and they can rebound and play defense,” Firth said. “Brant has just improved and the best rebounder on the team is Caleb Brown. They’ll play huge roles in what we want to accomplish this season.”
As for other contributors, Firth said, “I look for big things out of Justin Cousins, a junior guard. This is his year to step up and play a big role on the team. Zek Kesler and Mitch Kerr are two sophomore post players who are very athletic. And we have some freshmen we believe will be pretty good.”
Caston opens its season on Tuesday night at home against Maconaquah.
“They’re a team that has good guards coming back who are faster than we are,” Firth said. “They’re a good team from a good program that is well coached. ... Right now we’re trying to build for [Midwest Conference] play and build for the end of the season.”
As for the MWC, Firth said Pioneer and Frontier look to be the favorites but added, “I think we can compete with them. I think we have a good shot to do good things in our conference.”
