Still Foggy Coming Out of the Den

The Willow Springs Bears hit the boards at Munford Gymnasium for their first home game of the season on December 4. The opponents were the nearby West Plains Zizzers; both the bleachers and the seats were packed with spectators Friday night. 

 

6’4” West Plains junior Sean Tinsley faced off against 6’4” Willow senior Justin Chaney for the tip-off. Within the first seven seconds of the game, the Zizzers were up by two points. They held the lead throughout the game. 

 

West Plains walked away with the win, 50 points to Willow’s 39. 

 

According to the Bears’ head coach Mike Wilson, Willow struggled on both offense and defense and couldn’t match the Zizzers’ athleticism.

 

“They’re more athletic than us, and longer,” said Coach Wilson. The Zizzers’ varsity bench boasts four players 6’3” or taller. Two tall players, 6’4” junior Bristol Wood and 6’3” Taylor Harrison got past Willow defenders with regularity. The two were responsible for seventeen of the Zizzers’ points. 

 

For Willow Springs, starters Gannon McGinnis, Owen Duddridge, Scottie Osborn, and Avery Stolba range from 5’10” to 6’.

 

“We’re not real tall,” Coach Wilson said, “We’re fairly strong, but they were quicker and longer and that was a big advantage.”

 

On defense, the Bears tried both their zone and man defenses, to little avail.

 

“We’ve been a little clumped up in the middle of the floor at practice, and we just tend to wanna follow our guy around a little bit. We gotta find some answers,” said Coach Wilson.

 

The real nail in the coffin, however, was weak offense. The Bears found increasing opportunities to score in the second half of the game, but the accuracy simply was not there. 

 

“We can’t make a shot. We got a lot of shots that we wanted, and inside, outside, open shots...can’t make ‘em...They were long and they caused us problems, but we’re not making shots at practice. We’re not making shots at any point right now. We’re just not,” said Coach Wilson.

 

The Bears are 0 and 2 for the season, and will play in the Mansfield Tournament against Conway on December 9 at 6:00 p.m.

 

“We’ve got time to try to fix it,” Coach Wilson said, “We’ve played two pretty good teams, and you’ve just gotta get your head up and go on.”