A veteran Willard High School basketball squad is ready to make noise this season

WILLARD — After a pair of losing seasons to start their varsity basketball careers, Willard’s senior class is ready to take the next step and compete for titles.

“We posed the question to the seniors of how bad they want to succeed in their final year,” Willard head coach Jeremy Dresslaer said. “I think tonight was a huge step in the right direction for our program.”

The huge step came with a 61-56 win over Greenwood in the semi-final of the Willard Basketball Classic, pushing Willard’s record to 3-0 and advancing the Tigers to the championship game on Saturday night.

Willard started the game fast on Friday night and never looked back. The Tigers rode on the backs of senior forwards Gavin Davis and Haden Brown.

Davis finished with 12 points, 12 rebounds, six steals and one block while Brown added 17 points and seven rebounds.

“I really didn’t think that they could stop us down low,” Brown said. “We didn’t really have the outside shots falling tonight, so we made it a statement to attack the rim and take advantage of our size.”

Finding a way to win the game without everything firing on all cylinders is something Dresslaer was ecstatic about after the game.

“I felt like we beat a really good team tonight without playing our best basketball,” Dresslaer said. “The coaching staff was comparing this game to a district-type atmosphere and it’s only the third game of the season. Being able to win games like this is going to go a long way for us this season.”

Willard knows that the road is not going to get any easier as it goes through the gauntlet of southwest Missouri high school basketball. The Tigers await Bolivar for the championship game at 7:30 p.m. on Saturday night.

“Something that we have talked about a lot is not doing too much and just doing your job,” Dresslaer said. “These guys are all good basketball players. If they just go out and do their job without pressing too hard, this team has the potential to play championship basketball.”

This team-first attitude played huge dividends in the Tigers’ defense being able to slow down Greenwood sophomore Tanner Jones. The son of the former NBA player Dahntay Jones was held frustrated all night with the Willard defense clogging his driving lanes.

“He had a really quick first step, that’s for sure,” Davis said. “We knew if we were able to squeeze his gaps that our size was going to give him issues.”

The same strategy will be present for Willard on Saturday for a matchup with Bolivar and its junior phenom Kyle Pock.

This article originally appeared on Springfield News-Leader: Willard High School basketball: Tigers ready to make noise this season