Young Jackson hoops squad working to find its new identity this summer

Third-year Jackson High School boy's basketball coach Kory Thoma speaks with senior-to-be Lee Ivy during a timeout at the recent Rib City Shootout at the Bearcat Event Center in Dexter.

Tom Davis ~ Tdavis@semoball.com

DEXTER – The first two seasons of Jackson High School basketball under Indian Coach Kory Thoma have gone extremely well.

Under his guidance, the Indians have combined for 40 wins and an appearance in the MSHSAA Class 6 State Finals in 2023, where his team took fourth place.

But…

But, Jackson graduated seven seniors off of its MSHSAA Class 6 District 1 runner-up squad this spring, so Thoma is trying this summer to figure out what he has to work with this coming winter.

“We’re just learning,” Thoma said at the recent Rib City Shootout at the Bearcat Event Center at Dexter High School. “We haven’t been all together all summer. There have been different things, summer vacations…”

Jackson graduated All-SEMO Conference selections Blayne Harris and Judd Thoma, who were Thoma’s second and third leading scorers, respectively. In addition, 6-foot-5 senior Gavin Holdman departed and took his nine points per game with him.

“As far as expectations,” Thoma said of the upcoming season, “I don’t have that answer.”

Yet.

Thoma does have All-SEMO Conference senior-to-be Kole Deck returning after leading the Indians in scoring at over 20 points per game last year.

“Kole is our leader,” Thoma said. “He’s back and had a really good season.”

Defensively, the Indians allowed nearly six points per game more last winter than they did during the previous one. So, that will be an area of focus for a new group of players, which will include seniors Deck, Kolton Thoma (6-foot), Austin Criddle (6-foot-3), Braaden Thompson (6-foot-3), Lee Ivy (6-foot-4), Teaheb Perkins (5-foot-10), and Chris Masters (5-foot-10).

“Kole can get a shot up anytime he wants to,” Thoma explained of the talented 6-foot-6 perimeter player, “but I don’t need him trying to score 30 points a game. I need the other kids to contribute and get some confidence because we are so young, and then see where we are.”

The foundational aspects of Thoma’s program won’t change, despite a new-look roster.

“Once we get all of the kids back,” Thoma said, “I just want them to compete hard, play hard, all of those things, and we’ll teach them the game of basketball, and have more basketball awareness.”