This is a year of transition for Creston boys basketball, but that doesn’t mean it can’t be successful, Billy Hiatt says.
“I’d like for us to be competitive in the conference. I’d like to be in the upper two or three,” said Hiatt, the first-year coach succeeding Jim Calkins. “Our main goal is to get better as the year goes on. It’s a matter of the guys getting used to me, and me getting used to them.”
Creston is coming off an 8-14 season, tied for seventh in the Hawkeye 10 with a similarly young Atlantic team at 5-8, including three conference defeats by one point.
There is only one senior — 6-3 post player Evin Scadden — on Creston’s roster, so Hiatt will be relying heavily on juniors and sophomores. Four of those juniors are returning lettermen — second-team all-conference selection Luke Neitzel, Briar Evans, Colby Taylor and Bryce McIlravy.
The team lost four senior lettermen from a year ago in point guard Luke Eblen (now at Grand View University), Chase Blazek (on the SWCC team), Austin Bolinger and Chad Miller.
“I have a lot of guys who don’t have varsity game experience,” Hiatt said. “Maybe they’ve played some JV or freshman ball, but we need to be live with the lights on and crowd there on Friday night, and see what we can do.”
Originally the Panthers were scheduled to open varsity play tonight against ADM (Adel), but that game was moved to 5 p.m. Saturday at Wells Fargo Arena in a preliminary game for the Iowa Energy’s NBA Development League home opener against Erie. Tickets are good for both games, and are available in the high school office for $7 each.
So, now the first game is Friday at home against Hawkeye 10 rival Lewis Central. That could be a rousing opener, if history holds.
Last year, the Panthers lost 52-40 at LC early in the season, and then took an 18-point lead at home in the second contest in January, only to fall 66-65 on a baseline shot at the buzzer by Titan senior guard Nate Connealy. Chad Miller had put the Panthers in front with two free throws with six seconds left.
“It seems like every year at least one of our games is like that with Creston,” LC coach Dan MIller said. “When we play, the defensive intensity cranks up, and you know it’s going to be a battle, especially when we’re playing at Creston.”
These are two of the better Creston opponents right off the bat. LC, a Class 4A school, was 14-7 last year and ADM finished a 15-8 season losing in district play to state fourth-place finisher Norwalk, 58-54. Norwalk also ousted Creston in the district, 60-42.
ADM returns six of its top eight scorers, including all-state quarterback Gavin Glenn and senior Austin Hudson, who scored 15 points in ADM’s 63-45 win over Creston a year ago.
Background
Hiatt is an Oklahoma native who played collegiately at Peru State in Nebraska. His wife, Keri, is a Glenwood native. She will join Billy in Creston with the rest of the family — two daughters and a son all under age 7 — after finishing as an elementary teacher this semester in Oklahoma.
Hiatt, Success Room teacher at Creston High School, coached four years at Yukon High School in Oklahoma and more recently served as an assistant on two college staffs in Oklahoma before accepting the Creston position last summer. He said he was excited about getting another head coaching job, and the family was looking to move closer to Keri’s family in western Iowa.
“It’s gone well,” Hiatt said. “Right now we’re just figuring out where we need to improve the most, and learning who plays well together. The kids are working hard.”
Matt Somers continues as the primary assistant, along with Mark Eblen, Kristopher Hayes, trainer Kenny Lents and freshman coach Shawn Miller.
Expect a hard-nosed brand of basketball under Hiatt, much like Calkins’ teams, in which players are diving for loose balls and working hard on defense. It could be an up-tempo unit.
“I’m all about looking to get some easy shots,” Hiatt said, “so we’ll push it when we can. Defensively I like man-to-man, but we will press sometimes when I feel like we can, and mix some zone in there to change things up.”
One senior
Scadden (6-3), the lone senior, figures to be the main post player this year, but the athletic 6-3 Evans and 6-2 Neitzel can play in and out. An intriguing addition this year is 6-8 junior Ryan Cook, who did not play as a sophomore.
“He just needs some games,” Hiatt said.
On the wings, Hiatt can turn to the likes of Neitzel (11.6 points, 6.1 rebounds per game) and Evans (7.3 points), along with 6-4 shooter Colby Taylor (9.1 scoring average). The shooting guard spot could be manned by Neitzel or 6-2 junior Trey Thomsen, who scored more than 200 points in JV games last year.
Eblen was the primary point guard last year. Kainen Somers (5-11) sat out with a football knee injury. He and another junior, Caleb Thompson (6-1), figure in the point rotation this season.
“We are inexperienced at point guard,” Hiatt said. “It helped us to scrimmage Des Moines North and Boone on Saturday. Like a lot of our guys, they just need to adjust to the speed of the varsity games.”
Creston has been building toward improvement, with the JV going 15-4 a year ago and freshmen finishing 9-4. Other contributors this season could be the quick (5-10) McIlravy and sophomore Brandon Phipps (5-11) in the guard court, along with versatile junior Zach Powers (6-0) and sophomores Levi Eblen (6-1) and Trey Benson (6-2). Hiatt said Benson had a good scrimmage inside on Saturday.
“We just have to get after it this year and see how it goes,” Hiatt said. “I think these first two games will give us a good indication of where we are at.”
Next week, Creston hosts Carroll Kuemper Catholic Tuesday on a fundraiser night for autism awareness.
Hawkeye 10
Kuemper is the defending co-champion of the Hawkeye 10 with Harlan (each 11-2). Senior David Hicks returns for the Knights. Harlan returns senior guard Zach Osborn and 6-8 Jarod Juhl, who is out for several weeks with a football injury.
Juniors Dalton Franken and Sam Markham lead an improved Atlantic team under coach Steve Blazek, while Clarinda returns several veterans in Tyler Steeve, Brandon Sweet and Jared Stansberry. Clarinda plays tonight at Class 1A ranked Nodaway Valley.
Roster
(* — Returning letterwinner)
Seniors — *Evin Scadden (6-3).
Juniors — Ryan Cook (6-8), *Briar Evans (6-3), *Bryce McIlravy (5-10), *Luke Neitzel (6-2), Zach Powers (6-0), Kainen Somers (5-11), *Colby Taylor (6-4), Caleb Thompson (6-1), Trey Thomsen (6-2).
Sophomores — Trey Benson (6-2), Jon Birchard (6-2), Cole Crawford (5-10), Levi Eblen (6-1), Dustin Hoyt (6-1), Evan Nielsen (6-0), Brandon Phipps (5-11), Daniel Scott (6-0), Cole Thompson (5-11), Maxx Walters (5-8).
Freshmen — Garret Geary, Christian Groumoutis, Jake Gutschenritter, McClain Haines, Sam Hartsock, Jake Miller, Alex Nielsen, Nick Noecker, Jay Wolfe.
Varsity schedule
(* — League game)
Dec. 2 — Lewis Central, 7:45 p.m.
Dec. 3 — vs. ADM at Wells Fargo Arena, 5 p.m.
Dec. 6 — Kuemper Catholic, 7:45 p.m.
Dec. 9 — *at Glenwood, 7:45 p.m.
Dec. 13 — *Shenandoah, 7:45 p.m.
Dec. 16 — at Harlan, 7:30 p.m.
Dec. 17 — Denison-Schleswig, 4 p.m.
Jan. 3 — *at Red Oak, 7:45 p.m.
Jan. 6 — *Clarinda, 7:45 p.m.
Jan. 10 — at Atlantic, 7:45 p.m.
Jan. 13 — *at Kuemper Catholic, 7:45 p.m.
Jan. 14 — Indianola, 4 p.m.
Jan. 17 — *Glenwood, 7:45 p.m.
Jan. 20 — *at Shenandoah, 7:45 p.m.
Jan. 27 — *at Denison-Schleswig, 7:45 p.m.
Jan. 28 — at Norwalk, 7 p.m.
Feb. 3 — *Red Oak, 7:45 p.m.
Feb. 4 — *Lewis Central, 5 p.m.
Feb. 7 — *at Clarinda, 7:45 p.m.
Feb. 10 — * Atlantic, 7:45 p.m.
Feb. 14 — Harlan, 7:30 p.m.