The Clarke Central High School boys varsity basketball team practices in the New Gym on Jan. 30. The team will play Buford High School on Jan. 31 in the New Gym. “They all have a certain skill set, and they’re all varsity ballplayers. You normally don’t have 15 of those high-level basketball players, but this year, we have 15 high caliber players and the depth of this team is our strong suit.” CCHS varsity boys basketball head coach Andre McIntyre said. Photo by Natalie Schliekelman
The Clarke Central High School boys varsity basketball team will host Buford High School in the New Gym on Jan. 31 for their last conference game of the season.
The Clarke Central High School boys varsity basketball team will host Buford High School in the New Gym on Jan. 31 for their last conference game of the season.
Although CCHS played against BHS earlier in the season and lost 52-66, CCHS varsity boys basketball head coach Andre McIntyre believes that CCHS can beat them this time around.
“We played (Buford) earlier in this season at their place. We were down four or five points with two minutes to go,” McIntyre said. “Buford is the defending state champion, but we know that’s a team that we could beat, so we’re looking forward to the game.”
For the upcoming game, McIntyre aims to take advantage of BHS’s weaknesses by drawing on CCHS’s strengths.
“They’re a very solid basketball team. But there are some things we look to exploit. They’re not a deep team, so we’re going to try to wear them down,” McIntyre said. “The (CCHS) team’s strength is our depth. All 15 players can contribute, they all can play. Throughout the game we can keep on throwing bodies at them. Going into the fourth quarter, teams are tired, but we can still have fresh legs.”
According to CCHS shooting guard Justin Layne, the team also hopes to press the home-court advantage.
“Now we got (BHS) at home where we play it, so the team’s gonna take advantage of it,” Layne said. “We’re mainly we’re just focused on just getting the win and playing the best defense we can.”
According to McIntyre, after winning 58-51 against Walnut Grove High School on Jan. 28, the team morale is high.
“(The team) is excited for the game, and you know, we had a big win last night,” McIntyre said. “Anytime you play Buford, defending state champion, you gotta be up for the challenge.”
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