Men’s basketball turns up aggression and focus to prepare for 2011-12 season

  The men's basketball team started its pre-season this past Saturday in a scrimmage where the varsity team lost to Waynesburg by 1 after leading by 22 points. 

   After having an overall reord of 8-17 and an OAC record of 3-15 last year, they look to turn some things around in this upcoming season.

  Gene Ford will be entering his fourth year as the head coach and has an idea of what direction he would like to lead this team.

 "The ultimate goal is to play as well as you can," said Ford. "You try to reach whatever potential you have and you want to be competitive, you want to give yourself a chance to win the ball game at the end."

  The men's basketball team won a game in overtime and lost one in overtime as well, last year. They lost numerous games by less than six points, which hurt them a lot. 

  The Muskies fell short to Ohio Northern, Mount Union and Heidelberg last season by a few points. Along with a few out of conference games that concluded in a loss.

   "If we stay injury free I think we can be very competitive," said Ford.  

  Ford has a sense of respect for the teams in the Ohio Athletic Conference this year. 

  "The OAC men's basketball is as good of sport as there is in the conference top to bottom, you're an injury or two away from being in the top of the conference to the bottom of the conference," said Ford.

 The Muskies went on a streak of seven dropped games during the course of last season and then another four straight towards the end. Their overall record in OAC play was a conference worst at 4-14.

  Senior Kyle Clinedinst led the Muskies in scoring and rebounding, with 14.4 points and nine rebounds a game. 

  Senior Josh Brindley came back from a wrist injury during the season and finished strong to finish with 12.6 points a contest.

  Senior Carson Thomas will help as an emerging downtown threat from behind the arc. 

  Junior Seth Howard will bring a dominate presence down low in the paint, as he finished the 2010-2011 season with 25 blocks and was second on the team in rebounding with 121.

  Directing the team this year on the court will be sophomore point guard, Isaiah Shakespeare. 

  Shakespeare only played in a total of four games last year but has the knowledge it takes to be productive on the varsity level.

  "We are more experienced and very hungry to win now," said Shakespeare. "I feel like we are trying to make a stament this year and a big key to our success will be trusting in each other throughout the season."

  J.J.Amstrong, Clay Owings and George Williams will contribute as key role players for the Muskies.

  Senior George Williams saw limited time in his junior year but will work to see more time in his last go-round. 

  "I think defense will be the key to success and the difference is that the coaching staff has done a good job and put in a lot of extra hours in order to prepare us for this season," said Williams.

  The pace and work ethic in practice has been a totally different atmosphere this year, explained team members.

  "Every coach will tell you that the little things make the big things," said Ford. "You don't do the things that you need to do to take care of business eventually the big things will crumble on you, so detail is very important in any program."

  The Muskies will officially tip-off their season on Nov.15 as they take on Kenyon College on the road.

  The first home game is Nov. 26 against Washington and Jefferson, with game time scheduled for 3 p.m.