The Littlefield Wildcats’ varsity basketball team is looking to make another run at the post season after last year’s second round play-off exit against Childress.
The Wildcats are 7-13 overall, 1-2 in district play on the season.
Head Coach Rob Ogle is into his fifth year at Littlefield and he is assisted by Nathan McKinnon, Nic Clarkson, Tyler Rekieta, Matthew Arce and Jared Thomas.
“Coach McKinnon is a Littlefield guy. He’s been here his whole life and probably knows the kids and the things that go on around them and their environmental situations, so he is a major asset to our staff. Coach Clarkson is into his second year on staff. He does a good job with the group he has; we’re in a situation where he has to practice over in the other gym at the same time the varsity and JV are practicing, so I have a lot of trust and faith in what he is able to do with those guys over there.”
He added, “Junior High staff; we’ve had Coach Rekieta there now for three years. He understands our system and really is being a leader down there at the junior high for our new guys Matthew Arce and Jared Thomas, for them to learn through. As a head coach you have to have a lot of trust in your staff and I do. I have a lot of trust in those guys.”
The Coach talked about how he has seen his team make strides since falling in the second round of the play-offs last season, saying, “We had a really good summer and we’ve played some game; but the number one thing we battled before Christmas was developing team chemistry. We have a lot of guys who were on JV last year, Tyrell moved in this year and is trying to find his fit in the whole mix. There were four other guys on the varsity last year, but their roles weren’t near as big then, as they are now. It’s learning to understand their role and how can they help the team in that role.”
He added, “Right now are starting five is Jordan, who has the most experience, Jaron, who was a role player last year, and the other three were not there last year. We’re really trying to build chemistry and see what suits us best.”
Coach Ogle talked about the returners from last year’s squad, saying, “Senior, Jordan Trevino, is the lone returning starter from a season ago. He gives us an experienced ball-handler and an outside shooting threat. Also returning from last year’s team is senior, Ty’Jae Chambers. He is an athletic small forward who does a great job of getting rebounds, getting fouled and getting to the free-throw line. Senior, Jaron Cabello, has also stepped into a bigger role, after coming off of the bench last season. He is our leading scorer, averaging almost 10 PPG. He is a three-point shooting threat and has improved on his penetration to the basket.”
He added, “Senior, Ethan Garcia, is an athletic, bigger guard, who can hit the outside shot and senior, Ryan West, does all of the dirty work for us. He rebounds, he sets charges and leads our team with 17 drawn charges.”
New to the team this year is junior, Tyrell Norman, who moved in from Logan, N.M.
“He has been a very pleasant addition to our team,” Coach Ogle said. “he gives us more size and athleticism and is one of our top scorers and rebounders.”
Also joining the varsity this year are junior, Elijah Salazar, sophomores, Omar Martinez, MJ Randle and Jeremiah Trevino and freshman Chip Green.
“Elijah is a good ball handler and is capable of hitting the outside shot, while Omar is very lanky and has what I call ‘sticky’ hands,” the coach said. “He is able to get a lot of steals and goes to the basket well. MJ comes in as our back-up point guard. He is a defensive specialist and does a really good job defending.”
He added, “Jeremiah is a bigger guard and also plays some small forward for us at times. He is a good outside shooter and is improving his penetration skills. Chip is a good ball handler and outside shooter. He has had to really step up and be a scorer for us this year.”
“It’s a much different group from years past, and I knew this was coming and knew we were going to need to adjust,” he said. “We don’t have any big post type of players, like I’ve had in my previous four years here. I knew this was going to be more of a guard-oriented group.”
Coach Ogle talked about what he feels their strengths are right now, saying, “Our strengths right now are pushing in tempo and trying to create things and we press more than we have in the past, because of our quickness.”
He added, “We need to work on rebounding and being more physical defensively. It’s one of those things, there is nothing you can do about genetics, we’re not very big. So, we have to do a better job of getting a body on a body and maintaining that body on body.”
The Coach said we talk about leadership a lot.
“I think Jordan leads by example, but we need to improve on being vocal leaders,” he said. “Last year, Tyree Jones was our vocal leader and would get us going. One person, surprisingly, because he is new has come in and is starting to be more of a vocal leader, is Tyrell Norman. He has a positive energy around him and gets us going.”
The coach talked about the season to this point, saying, “We’ve improved a lot since day one and you can go all the way back to the first game of the season at Dumas, we’re missing a few players then, but they hammered us pretty good at their place. And then we played them in the third round of our tournament and came out very hesitant. But, we came in at halftime and talked and said there is nothing to change as far as X’s and O’s are concerned, it’s about attitude and approach. We came out in the third quarter and scored 28 points.”
He added, “We’re really trying to get these guys to believe in themselves, because we only have one varsity player with substantial varsity experience and that is Jordan Trevino. He is the only one who has a lot of varsity game-time experience. But, the younger guys and the guys that we have, have come a long way in a short amount of time. We’ve lost a lot of close games, unfortunately, but I just keep reminding the guys of what our goal is and that is to make the playoffs. We have eight more games and none are more important than the other. The most important game is the next game.”
Coach Ogle gave his outlook on the district, saying, “Everyone has a lot coming back from last year. Dimmitt had four starters back, and in my opinion, throwing us out of the mix, is the top team in the district. Lamesa graduated one kid and they have size. Brownfield has quality starters back and Denver City only really lost one kid from last season. Muleshoe and Friona didn’t lose anybody.”
The Littlefield Wildcats’ remaining schedule is as follows:
Tuesday, Jan. 18 th at Muleshoe; Tuesday, Jan. 25 th at Dimmitt; Friday, Jan. 28 th home against Denver City; Tuesday Feb. 1 st home against Friona; Friday, Feb. 4 th at Brownfield; Tuesday, Feb. 8 th home against Muleshoe; Friday, Feb. 11 th at Lamesa and Tuesday, Feb. 15 th at Denver City.