April 23, 2024

CMB boys looking to take more steps up Heart of Iowa ladder

By Troy Hyde

Collins-Maxwell/Baxter junior Brady Stover goes in for a layup during a full-court drill during a preseason practice in Baxter earlier this year. Stover is expected to log valuable minutes this season for the Raiders as they try to better a 2013-14 season that included 15 victories. (Troy Hyde)

BAXTER – Could the Collins-Maxwell/Baxter boys’ basketball be one of the favorites to win the Heart of Iowa Conference title this season?

Long-time Prairie City-Monroe coach Fred Lorensen thinks so. And with what the Raiders return to the hardwood, why not?

CMB won just 21 games in the six years prior to winning 15 games a season ago.

The Raiders graduated two solid seniors from that squad but bring back their leading scorer and first-team all-HOIAC representative Bryce Kemp as well as two other seniors in Tommy Galloway and Seth Balke.

That trio, along with a few others, gives second-year coach Scott Brummel reasons for optimism.

“We turned things around last year. We got to 15 wins and probably left some wins out there, too,” Brummel said. “We lost two really good seniors and some good leadership from Austin Moorman and Zach Samson, but the advantage we do have is we have a lot of guys who have played floor minutes on the varsity level.”

Brummel added that eight or nine guys on this year’s roster played pretty important minutes a year ago.

Kemp, who can play all five positions on the floor, averaged a team-best 13.8 points and 9.2 rebounds per game a year ago.

Balke, a second-team all-conference player, also averaged in double-figures at 10.5 as a junior and pulled down four rebounds a game as well.

Patrick Girard will give the Raiders a large presence inside the lane. He also may be the team’s best passer, which will give CMB the luxury of running cuts off him.

Throw in Galloway’s 6.7 points per game last year, the athletic ability of junior Brady Stover and an emerging talent in Hunter Gunderson and Brummel feels like he has a team that can create a lot of mismatches against their opposition.

“We can go eight or nine deep,” said Brummel, a Pella native who coached 13 years in California before returning to his home state last year. “We can get after teams on defense and look to push and get some easy baskets and anytime you do that, you better be prepared to use a lot of guys.”

The Raiders haven’t always gone into a season as HOIAC favorites.

They won just eight games over three seasons from 2008 to 2011 and improved that number to 11 victories over the course of the next two seasons.

But after a successful 15 wins in Brummel’s first year and a record-setting football campaign, the Raiders come into the basketball season with more confidence than ever before.

“We come in with some confidence because of the football season. I think that will translate over onto the basketball floor,” Brummel said. “We won 15 games last year and would like to get there again, win a few more playoff games and see what happens.”

PCM returns leading scorer Logan Gilman but graduates four of its five top scorers and rebounders from last year, but Brummel knows the Mustangs always reload.

Brummel also thinks Gilbert is going to be very talented and expects South Hamilton, despite losing one its best players to an injury, to be in the mix after making an experience at the state tournament last season.

CMB finished fourth in the HOIAC last year after going 11-7.

The Raiders started 13-3 but ended the season with just two wins in its final seven games.