Advance basketball prepares for final regular season game

CAPE GIRARDEAU, Mo. (KFVS) - Advance boys basketball currently holds a record of 19 wins and five losses. With a win on Friday in their final regular season game against Puxico, the Hornets will reach their eighth 20-win season in the last 10 years.

“It starts with the players, it really does,” said head coach Dennis Wheetley. “We’ve had some good athletes come through here. Good attitudes. They work hard, and it takes it all, the whole team.”

The players have a different idea about the root of the success.

“I think it’s the team chemistry and having a great coach that brings us all together as a whole,” said senior forward Jaren Schrader.

A coach that the team has a special nickname for.

“Bubba...he gets us fired up,” guard Hayden Laird said. “He has a way of talking to us. Just gets us going. Gets us fired up.”

The Hornets need all the energy they can get heading into this weekend. Friday’s regular season finale comes just one day before the district tournament begins. Advance will have less than 24 hours between games. A tight turnaround for the start of post-season action, but “Bubba” is confident in his team.

“Each day they’re getting better,” said Wheetley. “I tell these kids it doesn’t matter what we’ve done all year. It counts now. I think they’ll be ready.”

The players feel the same way.

“We want to start off districts with a win, and we consider this (game against Puxico) districts,” said Schrader. “We want to go into it winning. We don’t want to go into it losing.”

Laird added one thing will be key.

“Confidence. Confidence is huge in basketball.”

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