With decisive sweeps of road games at Cabool and Willow Springs, the Houston Middle School boys basketball teams wrapped up their seasons in style this week.
In Monday contests at Cabool, the Tigers’ A-Team won 41-19 and the B-Team prevailed 16-7 (in a matchup lasting only 2 quarters due to sickness and a lack of players).
In the A-Team game, 7th-grade guard Griffon Aaron led Houston in scoring with 15 points, while 7th-grade forward Tucker Venn had 13, 8th-grade forward Gage Smith had 4, 8th-grade guard Jackson Morgan had 3 and three players added 2 apiece.
Two players did all the scoring for Houston in the shortened B-Team contest, as Karson McCain and Chase Honeycutt each tossed in 8 points.
Then Tuesday night in Willow Springs, the HMS B-Team won 45-13 and the A-Team prevailed 48-18.
In the B-Team game, Venn scored 16 points, Aaron had 13 and Honeycutt added 6.
Venn then poured in 19 points in the A-Team contest, while Morgan had 10, Aaron had 8 and Thomas Kincaid added 6.
With the results, the HMS A-Team finished the season with a record of 5-6, while the B-Team ended up 10-3.
“I was very proud of the boys for the work ethic throughout the year,” said head coach Jake Brookshire. “We lost a couple games early in the year where we didn’t have everyone. After that, the B-Team put the turbo on almost everyone we played and there was only one game all year that A-Team wasn’t within a couple points at halftime.
“If you were able to watch them play, they were undersized every single night and sometimes our lack of size eventually was too hard to overcome. I heard multiple compliments from other coaches on how hard and smart our kids played. I can’t ask much more than that from them.”
The HMS boys hoops program included only four 8th-graders this year, which is why several 7th-graders played up to form an A-Team.
“While we don’t have a lot of 8th-graders, they did a great job leading the younger guys and showing them what was expected and what playing hard looks like,” Brookshire said. “The sky is the limit for these two classes if they continue to be great teammates, work hard and not care who gets the credit.
“They have been a joy to coach this season and were always eager to learn and get better each practice and game.”