Sports

Greyhounds One Win Away from Best Season in Decade

Defense has been the name of the game for Shorewood and the squad could pick up win number eight in its matchup against Cudahy on Friday.

Eight is the magic number for the Shorewood Greyhounds this season.

In a game Friday night, the boys basketball team can reach the magic number: eight wins, with a victory over Woodland Conference foe Cudahy, and continue on to the best season the program has had in at least a decade.

“It’s been a pretty good ride,” said Shorewood Head Coach Phil Jones, who has been with the team for two seasons. “I felt there were some games we should have won earlier in the year.”

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With just a 13-33 record over the past two seasons, Jones said it is a matter of eliminating a losing mentality among the players and building a winning attitude.

“Winning breeds winning and losing breeds losing,” he said. “After you lose so much, you start to accept it, and that’s what we are trying to change.”

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“If you work hard, good things are going to happen.”

Players have improved individually

The team sits at 7-7 overall and 4-7 in the Woodland Conference, and earlier in the season, broke the .500 winning percentage mark for the first time in 15 years.

Players like senior guard Deion Jackson-Body, the team’s leading scorer averaging nearly 16 points per game; senior center Aaron Bailey, putting up about 14 points per game; and a host of scorers and role players pushed the team to the next level.

Jones said he has seen a lot of improvement from many of the players from last year's squad. Bailey battled an injury last season and only competed in four games, and junior forward Bobby Kohl is one of the team's leading rebounders and typically matched up defensively against the opponent's top scorer.

Defense has been the name of the game this season, Jones said.

“Our defense has improved on all levels … we just need to play more basketball,” he said.

Junior forward Donovan Freeman said Jones has preached defense from day one.

“Last year we were getting beat easy, but this season, we are in games because of our defense," he said.

“We have a lot of scorers this season too, and we know how to use them."

In fact, the most the team as allowed in terms of points in one game was 66 in a loss to Saint Thomas More on Jan. 13, whereas they have allowed 70 points or more in nine games last season.

Comfort level growing

Kohl said he thinks the team is more comfortable with the coaching staff than last year and the team communicates and has learned to play with each other on the court.

"Deion Jackson-Body and Aaron Bailey are both seniors; I think they both bring a lot of leadership on the floor," Kohl said. "Overall, I think we have a lot more team chemistry than we did last year; we weren't comfortable playing with each other on the court, especially in tight games."

However, it may prove to be a tough three-to-four-game stretch, Jones said, with three players riding the bench with suspensions related to academics. He hopes they will return with about three games left in their regular-season schedule, in time to finish the season on a strong note.

“Hopefully it will give our bench kids some experience,” Jones said. “Then we can put all the pieces back together and get ready for the tournament.”

Shorewood's most recent game, a 19-point loss at the hands of Pewaukee on Jan. 20, isn't indicative of the Greyhound's season, with all of their other losses in the single digits.

"Until the other night, where we just didn't come ready to play, we've played competitively in every game," Jones said.

Jones said his team is looking forward to the WIAA tournament because they truly believe they can make some noise come playoff time.

“We’ve played a pretty strong non-conference schedule,” he said. “I think if we get everybody back and we are all on the same page, we can make some noise.”

Freeman said he’s also excited about what this year’s team can do in the tournament.

“We can go deep into the playoffs if we really put our mind to it,” he said.

Looking forward, Jones said he is excited about where the program is going, especially with many of the key players from this year's squad expected to return next year as seniors.

"I think the program is really headed in the right direction," Jones said.


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