Winning by 16 points at a California seaside high school isn’t a bad end to any basketball team’s summer.
It certainly pleased Camp Verde High School head coach Dan Wall, who spent his June helping 20 Cowboys develop their spacing and defensive skills in preparation for his fourth season.
“Two reasons: A. We played better, and B. they weren’t quite as good as the other teams we played,” he said after returning home June 26 from his third and final summer road tournament at Point Loma Nazarene University in San Diego. “I’ll keep on trying to get them into the gym starting in August.”
Especially if Reyes Herrera continues his hot shooting from the outside.
The senior, one of four who traveled to California with the Cowboys, hit four three-point shots in one game to ease the pain of a 1-3 record, including two losses incurred from three-pointers made at the final buzzer.
“He played a lot harder defensively, which I appreciated,” Wall said. “He was streaky with his shot.
“We sat him down and had a couple talks about being a leader, what we expected from him next year. He took some steps forward in that area.”
As did forward Ryan Cain, who along with post Drake Smith and shooting guard Aaron Tracy were the two other upperclassmen leading the Cowboys through June play.
“I hope to get a little more consistent jump shot out of him,” Wall said of Cain, who also helped the Cowboys to a .500 record over 10 round-robin tournament games at Chino Valley and Flagstaff high schools. “Ryan was able to handle it for us. He will definitely be contributing defensively.”
Cain and junior Chase Decker were the players who impressed Wall the most with the way they got after it in their mostly man-to-man defense the first two weekends of June, despite losses at Chino Valley and to Sedona Red Rock High School.
“We beat Northland Prep[aratory Academy] and Williams [High School] June 11 and 12,” Wall said of his 10 players’ trip to Chino. “We played six games the weekend before with more of the younger kids at Flag[staff]. We went 3-3 there with a mix more of younger than older guys.”
Although, again, results in terms of wins and losses were not always there, younger players such as incoming freshmen Jayson Collier and Dayton Smith got extra chances to hone their skills, along with as many as 18 others, in junior varsity scrimmages Wednesdays at Mingus Union High School.
“I thought Dayton Smith, for sure, made big strides this summer,” Wall said of his summer’s top rebounder. “Chase Decker was working hard and was definitely committed all summer.”
They will need to gel with quick new perimeter threats Teson Parker and Abe Sanchez, from Beaver Creek School.
Like his counterpart at the head of the girls basketball program, CVHS athletic director Mark Showers, Wall looked back on the summer feeling generally positive about the pieces he will have in place for November.
Showers’ enthusiasm was more tempered by a less-experienced team that struggled to win four weekly games in a Sedona Red Rock High School summer tournament, which the Cowboys were swept out of in the final week of June.
“I’m looking forward to working with this group in November,” said Showers, who hopes to get more support in the post for senior wing Kayla Hackett. “This team is very young and has learned a lot this summer.”
Having senior Raiven Alvey and sophomore Katrina Poelstra back would ease the learning curve for Showers’ young guard line, which must replace leading scorer and perimeter shooter Gabby Ontiveros.
For more photos, please see the Wednesday, July 13, issues of the Camp Verde Journal and Cottonwood Journal Extra.
