Tiger coach ready for 'warrior mentality' from former player, now adversary

Third-year Bell City High School varsity boy's basketball coach Luke Bixler makes a point to an official last month in a game against Bernie at Bell City.

Tom Davis ~ Tdavis@semoball.com

RISCO – If the Risco High School varsity boy’s basketball squad has a difficult time on Thursday in its road test at Bell City, veteran Tiger coach Brandon Blankenship will have no one to blame but himself.

The Cubs (6-5) are an emerging group led by third-year coach Luke Bixler, who learned much of what he knows about the game from none other than Blankenship himself.

“He was probably in the second or third grade when I first saw him,” Blankenship said of Bixler when he was hired to guide the Cubs in 2022. “I had Luke all the way through (school). I had him in junior high and coached him in high school. We had a lot of success.”

When Bixler, a 2012 Risco High grad, wore the black-and-gold, Risco won 78 games and three MSHSAA Class 1 District 1 championships in his four seasons.

As a sophomore, Bixler helped Risco win a Sectional title, before falling to eventual state champion Scott County Central. In each of Bixler’s final three seasons, his team fell to the Braves, who won the ultimate prize in each of those years.

“He is just a competitor,” Blankenship said. “He’s a hard worker. Nobody is going to outwork him.”

Fast-forward to today, and that energy from Bixler has the Cubs, who are without their top post player, junior Kale Richardson (high ankle sprain), surprising many fans throughout the area.

Last month, Bell City won the Oran Invitational Tournament for the first time in nearly 20 seasons.

“They are so scrappy,” Blankenship said of Bell City. “They are physical, and they are scrappy.”

The loss of Richardson cannot be understated. He was one of the more dominant and physical players in the Oran event and made the all-tournament team. But even without Richardson, the Cubs are defending.

In the three seasons that Bixler has guided the program, Bell City has lowered its defensive average nearly 20 points per game.

“They’re going to play hard on defense,” Blankenship said. “They are going to try and make it tough on you to get stuff accomplished.”

None of that grit, effort, and toughness surprises Blankenship when watching Bixler coach.

“Luke was our sparkplug,” Blankenship said of the Tigers’ dominant run just over a decade ago. “On defense, he was always moving and had active hands.”

Those ‘active hands” led to a lot of forced turnovers and points at the other end. In Bixler’s senior season, the Tigers averaged nearly 85 points per game. In a 32-minute contest, that is stunning.

“We didn’t have a player over six feet tall,” Blankenship said. “We would just press and go and that is Luke. He’s got intensity and it is go, go, go, push, and push. That is his mentality.

“He has a warrior mentality.”