Advance finds something that 'sticks against the wall' in latest W

Second-year Advance High School varsity boy's basketball coach Dalton Wilson speaks to his team during a timeout in a recent game against Richland (Essex) at Advance.

Tom Davis ~ Tdavis@semoball.com

Advance High School varsity boy’s basketball coach Dalton Wilson is only in his second season of leading his alma mater, so he has not become entrenched in a specific strategy or style of play, aside from the tenets of effort and smart decision-making.

“We have an adaptability to changing different defenses,” Wilson said recently, “and changing different offenses, too. We’ve been trying a lot of things. Throwing stuff against the wall and see what sticks.”

What Wilson threw “against the wall” on Tuesday stuck, because the Hornets had one of their semi-regular impressive moments in beating St. Vincent 64-49 just 24 hours after collapsing in the second half against Richland (Essex).

“We have to get (some) mental toughness,” Wilson said.

Advance is only 4-9, but the four victories have been noticeable.

Wilson’s kids have topped a six-win Bell City team (76-59), a .500 Meadow Heights squad (61-60), a six-win Delta team (69-62), and now the Indians.

“In those moments,” Wilson said of the positive moments his team has had this season, “we are guarding really well. We’re sitting down and playing solid defense. We’re hustling.

“We were running our (offensive) actions. We were running our stuff. We were playing together (and) making good decisions.”

That was evident even in a home loss to the Rebels.

After digging a 9-0 hole to start the game, Advance played the No. 8-ranked Class 1 Rebels competitively throughout the remainder of the opening half.

“Our man-to-man (defense) has been really good at times,” Wilson said.

The Hornets have made a slight improvement statistically defensively this season, as they have lowered their opponents’ production to under 64 points per game. However, to counter that, Advance is also scoring (51.6 points per game) slightly less than a year ago.

The road ahead is a daunting one for the young Hornets, who utilize just two seniors (Remington Pixley and Brison Winchester) in their main rotation.

Advance will visit Class 3 No. 8-ranked Scott City (8-3) on Tuesday (7:30 p.m.), followed by a road test at Meadow Heights (3-3).

The Hornets will then compete in the Stoddard County Athletic Association Tournament at Dexter to close this month before hosting Class 3 No. 11-ranked Woodland and visiting Class 4 Dexter to open February.