Young Advance guard gaining aggressiveness, confidence

Second-year Advance High School varsity boy’s basketball coach Dalton Wilson is making incremental progress in building the Hornets back into the program that Wilson, a former Hornet player, wants it to be.

The Hornets recently snapped a five-game losing streak with a 78-30 victory at Holcomb but fell at Dexter on Friday 63-48.

At 5-14 overall, Advance is just one victory shy of matching last season’s six-win season, and Wilson’s team still has at least six games remaining (and possibly more).

“It’s a long season,” Wilson said recently, “and we have to play to the end. We are going to try and take the good moments, break those down in film (sessions), and try to learn from those.”

Advance will celebrate Senior Night on Tuesday at 7:15 p.m. when it hosts Scott County Central (4-13).

The Hornets have four seniors in guard Colbey Roper, forward Brison Winchester, guard Remington Pixley, and center Damion Crader.

Though he isn’t a senior, a critical part of the Advance success this winter has been the emerging play of junior guard Hunter Rodgers.

“I feel like this year,” Wilson said of the 6-foot guard, “(Rodgers) is really looking to be aggressive and take his open looks and not hesitate.”

That was evident in the recent Stoddard County Athletic Association Tournament.

The Hornets fell in their opening game to the eventual champion Puxico, who destroyed every team it played in the event but battled Class 1 No. 8-ranked Richland (Essex) tough before falling 52-48.

Against the Indians, Rodgers led his team with 13 points while against the Rebels, he tallied 10 points.

“Hunter has been putting in the work shooting,” Wilson said of his player’s development. “So, that has been great to see.

“That is how he has grown. He has been a lot more aggressive and a lot more confident.”

Rodgers can handle the ball, and he has shown the ability to score at multiple levels.

In the aforementioned games, he has scored on 3-pointers, on drives, and at the free-throw line.

“He has to continue to develop his left hand (on drives),” Wilson explained, “and his scoring off contested lay-ups. But he has a good mid-range jump shot.

“Obviously, he can (also) shoot the three-ball.”

If this year’s Advance squad is anything like Wilson’s first year (in 2023-24), it will play its best basketball when the games matter most.

Last season, Advance won six games, with four of those coming in the month of February and in the postseason.

The Hornets won three of their final four games last season before falling to Puxico in the championship game of the MSHSAA Class 2 District 3 Tournament.

Following Tuesday’s test with the Braves, Advance will visit Zalma (2-13) on Friday at 7:30 p.m.