Monett finishes runner-up at Southwest Holiday Tournament
By Jared Lankford monettsports@gmail.com
A second-place finish at the Southwest Holiday Tournament was not what Monett had entirely hoped for to end the 2024 calendar year.
Teams that earn the right to play for a championship, no matter what tournament, have expectations of hoisting the trophy that says No. 1.
Despite falling, 53-41, to East Newton in the title bout, the Cubs’ coaches saw tremendous growth in their team.
“Obviously, the goal is to win the tournament, said Andrew Ballock, Monett boys basketball coach. “But we did a lot of really good things in this tournament and learned a lot about ourselves.”
Ballock highlighted Monett’s growth as a team and the way they incorporated all five players on the floor in the offense, not having one or two players feel like they had to carry the entire workload.
“I think we are coming together and playing for each other,” Ballock said. “We need to go in being able to have the drive to get that big stop or big rebound and make that big play when the moment presents itself.”
The Cubs entered the first full week of 2025 with a record of 5-5. While to some, a .500 winning percentage may not be that eye-popping of a stat, it should raise the eyebrows of Monett fans considering the fact the Purple and Gold finished last year’s campaign 8-19 overall and were 4-9 at this stage last year.
Ballock said turnovers and ball security is something the team will specifically target in practice for improvement.
“It is not secret that we struggle with turnovers,” Ballock said. “We need to see the importance of valuing every single possession in the game whether we make a shot or not. We can’t get many quality shots if we don’t maintain possession of the ball.”
Two key factors in the Cubs’ growth this season have been the off-season development of Logan Kutz and Landyn Brandt in the low post. The senior duo are both averaging 17 points per game.
Kutz has settled into using his size inside to present a target and get high-percentage looks. Brandt creates match-up problems for opposing teams by being able to drive past larger post players who attempt to guard him on the perimeter, and by muscling past smaller guards for layups.
“Logan has done a heck of a job this year,” Ballock said. “He has grown so much as a player and person. You can tell by the way is rebounding at the rim and getting to the basket in the post. Landyn is a tough player to stop. If we can keep getting consistency, they will both keep getting better.”
For their efforts, both Kutz and Brandt were named to the Southwest Holiday All-Tournament Team.
Ballock said the issues with the Cubs are small and correctable errors, not wholesale system changes that need to be made.
“They are little things,” Ballock said. “Our schedule does not get any easier. We are going to rest up and hit 2025 as hard as we can.”
