Brainerd Boys Basketball Looking To Bounce Back From Early Adversity

A 1-4 record isn’t the start the Brainerd boys basketball team was hoping for. A mixture of playing some tough competition, some early injuries, and an outbreak of influenza B, which kept two starters out in the Warriors’ previous game, has brought a lot of early adversity. However, second-year head coach Charlie Schoech is still confident in his team.

“I like the versatility of our team, we have a lot of guys in the 6’3 to that 6’6 kind of range, so offensively that gives a lot of versatility because they are athletic,” said Schoech.

That athleticism is something that can’t be taught, and the Warriors plan to use it to their advantage.

“We have a very athletic team, we’re more athletic than a lot of the other teams we play so coach really likes us to push the ball, get up the floor, we got a lot of jumpers,” said Brainerd boys basketball senior guard Ben Staehling.

“We usually see an offensive mismatch with Owen or Cam, or even Ben too because Ben is a big kid, so we usually put them down on the block if we see an offensive mismatch and kind of exploit it and score off that basically,” said Brainerd boys basketball senior point guard Connor Powers.

Even though the Brainerd boys basketball season has been rough so far, the Warriors know it’s also a long season and one they hope to be peaking at come February and March.

“We have to climb the ladder one step at a time and not look way ahead or what’s behind you, just look at the next game ahead of you and climb all the way to the top,” said Staehling.

“Coach Schoech said at the end of the game last night, he would trade all the wins and losses in November and December for wins in January and February,” said Brainerd boys basketball senior forward Owen Davis.

“We have been improving game by game and as long as that continues, we’re going to like where we are at come March,” said Schoech.