By T. Scott Boatright
The Choudrant Aggies boys basketball squad has spent recent seasons as a guard-heavy team, using long-range shooting and tight defense as the team’s foundation.
But times change, and so far this season, it’s been the Aggie’s frontcourt and play of center Michael Jones and forward Lawson Stevens that has helped Choudrant off to a 7- 5 start on the young season.
The Class B Aggies have never been afraid to play up in class, and they showed they can more than hang with the big boys on Tuesday as Choudrant cruised to a 69-32 win over Union Parish on Tuesday night in Farmerville.
And it was the Jones-Stevens duo that took over for the Aggies in that game, with Jones leading the way with 24 points while Stevens added 14 and swing forward Tredon Cage chipped in with eight points.
“These two big kids — our size — are the only real experienced players we have coming back,” Aggies coach Ryan Smith said. “So we’re playing inside ball. We went inside to Mike some last year and had Lawson, too, but they are the force for our team right now under the basket, which is unlike Choudrant basketball and it’s been known.
“They both are comfortable working with each other and passing the ball to create the open shots. They’re our dynamic duo in the lane right now and it’s just given us. And having two inside guys like that who can score has really helped our team so far.”
But that’s not to say Choudrant’s young guards aren’t maturing game-by-game as they gain experience.
Benton Case added seven points, including a 3-pointer, for the Aggies against the Farmers, while Braden Soto totaled seven points. Including a 3-pointer, while Kahless Carnahan also hit on a long-ranger for his three points.
“We started off 0-3, but I think that knowing coming in that we had to replace all of our guards from the past two seasons, that kind of start could happen,” Smith said. “So we knew they’d need time to learn, and they have. But they are learning and having gotten better and better each game.”
Next up for Choudrant will be a road game at regional rival Weston tonight.
“We’ve either been in the same district or have been regional rivals the past few years, so I won’t have to try to get my time fired up for that one,” Smith said. “They beat us earlier this season, so that’s going to be a tough challenge, but we love facing them and playing the kind of games we always seem to have against Weston is something our kids love doing.”
Then next week the Aggies will face Jonesboro-Hodge before playing in the West Ouachita Tournament, taking on St. Frederick, and Ouachita Christian.
“St. Frederick is really good and then what OCS team we face will depend on if they have their football guys back yet,” Smith said. “We definitely haven’t shortchanged ourselves on the difficulty level.
“This has been one of the more challenging opening schedules that we’ve had playing teams like Zwolle, Hornbeck and Sterlington — it’s just been one powerhouse after another, but I think that’s really helping us out.”
