Mounties Will Rely More On Balanced Offensive Attack

By Paul Nielsen

Posted: November 11, 2009 at 5:06 a.m.

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ROGERS — For the first time in his six seasons at Rogers High, coach Marty Barnes does not welcome an experienced go-to player.

There is no Aaron Hawley, no Kyle Moix or no Kane Moix on the Mounties’ roster.

But that suits Barnes just fine as Rogers seeks to make a run at a fifth straight Class 7A state tournament appearance. Balance will be the Mounties’ bread-and-butter, and that was on display Tuesday night during the annual Blue-White scrimmage.

Sophomore Josh Anderson scored 23 points to lead the White to a 45-37 victory over the Blue in King Arena. Senior Tanner Kaza scored 15 for the Blue team, while sophomore Nathan Musso added 10.

Rogers’ top two returnees - Casey Caton and Graham Parker - just joined the team from football and scored eight and four points, respectively. Caton was on the White team while Parker suited up with the Blue team.Guard Wyatt Hively added five points for the White.

“The thing I like about this team is that I don’t have to do that (rely on one scorer),” Barnes said. “I think we have three or four really good scorers. You have Anderson, Hively, Parker, Kaza and then you have intangibles there with Caton. Musso is going to give us some rebounding muscle inside.

“One of the pluses I like with this team is you are going to have to guard more than one or two guys. I feel comfortable with nine, maybe 10, in some kind of rotation.”

But it was Anderson that stole the show Tuesday. The 6-foot-5 forward hit 7-of-8 shots from the floor in the second half as the White pulled away in the fourth period. Anderson hit 3-of-6 from 3-point range, and his last trey gave the White team a 40-36 lead with 1 minute, 25 seconds left in the game.

“Josh being 6-5, he can play a little Moix on you and he can play a little Hawley on you,” Barnes said. “(Anderson) gives usa 3-point threat but at 6-5, we are eventually are going to want to get him down there (in the paint) and cause some problems.”

Rogers still has a week until the Nov. 21 season opener at Pea Ridge, and Barnes said that will be plenty of time for Parker and Caton to get their basketball legs back.

“We had a good spring and summer with them, and we haven’t put anything new in,” Barnes said. “Now, it’s just a matter of getting them into the swing of things.”

Cameron Carroll and Wayne Henry scored 10 points each to lead the White team to a 36-34 overtime victory in the junior varsity Blue-White game.

Rogers hosts Prairie Grove in a benefi t scrimmage Saturday night before opening the season at Pea Ridge. The Lady Mounties’ Blue-White game is tonight in King Arena. Senior Morgan Hook will sign with Oklahoma before the varsity scrimmage.

Sports, Pages 7 on 11/11/2009

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