Focus on the Puxico guards and the Indian frontcourt will hurt you, as well

Puxico High School senior forward Scyler Zimmerman puts up a shot against Bernie High School sophomore forward Jon Aycock during the recent Bloomfield Christmas Tournament at Bloomfield High School.

Tom Davis ~ Tdavis@semoball.com

As the varsity boys basketball squads at Gideon, Richland, Bernie, and Dexter can attest after recently falling to Puxico in the Bloomfield Christmas Tournament, the Indians are a challenging team to try and overcome.

Puxico is playing its most stifling defense in decades statistically, and at the offensive end of the court, it's difficult to decide if the opposition wants to focus on the perimeter shooting, the athletic drives, or the blue-collar work done down low by seniors Kaysen Long and Scyler Zimmerman.

“Puxico is just a good basketball team,” veteran Rebel coach Matt Cline said after losing 61-49 to the Indians.

Fourth-year Puxico coach Bryant Fernetti praised Long’s defensive versatility during the Bloomfield event, but the play of Zimmerman was critical because he provides the one player with significant size (6-foot-4) for Puxico.

“Scyler does a really good job of however (teams) try to guard him,” Fernetti said recently, “he uses that against them.”

Fernetti explained that opposing defenses have tried to front Zimmerman at times this season, so the talented Indian guards simply lob the ball over the top of the defenders to him for lay-ins.

“If they play behind him,” Fernetti continued, “he does a good job of sealing them.”

That is an underrated skill of Zimmerman’s game. He “feels” the defense bodying up against him and that will determine which move to the basket he makes.

“He’s played for the past four years,” Fernetti said, “so he has probably seen every type of coverage. He can do a nice job with a fadeaway jump shot, as well.

“He’s been in a lot of big games for us over the last two or three years.”

Defensively, Long is a valuable tool that Fernetti can utilize in a multitude of ways.

“Kaysen can guard the other team’s best player,” Fernetti explained, “whether he’s a point guard or a post player. That really helps.”

The Indians are ranked fourth in the latest Class 2 poll and are limiting opponents to a mere 47 points per outing. That number is the best for this program in at least 16 seasons and has progressively gotten better each season that Fernetti has been at the helm in Puxico.

“We really do have pretty good man-to-man defenders,” Fernetti said, “and we’ve done a lot of work on that over the last two, three years. We’re getting better at man-to-man defense, and I think it’s kind of paying off.”

Puxico will visit Twin Rivers (9-4) on Friday at 7:30 p.m.