The Warrenton boys basketball team remains undefeated in the season after their 63-33 win over Wright City on Dec. 20. The Warriors now hold a 4-0 record, while the Wildcats dropped to 1-8.

“We got to get a lot of guys in tonight and saw a lot of different looks, tried a few things. So, I think that was a positive for us,” Warrenton Head Coach Mark Thomas said.

The Warriors led at the end of each quarter (22-6, 36-17, 49-26). Brodey Meier came out strong in the first quarter and quickly recorded 15 points. Meier ended the game with 19 points and five rebounds. Deadrick Forrest recorded 14 points, while Taylor Anderson tallied eight rebounds.

Thomas noted getting everyone involved from the bench allowed them to try different variations and matchups.

Thomas said it is nice to be undefeated early on in the season but there are still things they need to work on to get better.

“I’m never satisfied and I can’t be if I want to get them where they want to be because they want to keep being undefeated,” Thomas said.

Thomas named being patient on the defensive side of things as an area he wants to see cleaned up.

“We have to really work on being too aggressive on the defensive side of the ball, getting too handsy, getting themselves in foul trouble. We have to let the game come to us on the defensive side,” Thomas said.

After suffering their fifth straight loss, Wright City Head Coach Ken Brown is looking forward to regaining focus during Winter break. The Wildcats had a game heavy schedule recently, and look forward to taking advantage of their practice time before they start up again in January.

“We just have to work on our basic skills of passing the ball and playing better together. We just need to get in the gym and work on a lot of fundamental things,” Brown said.

Brown noted during the game, Wright City was not passing the ball well which led to 21 turnovers.

“We shot 10 for 31 from the free throw line and any game like that is going to get you beat. We gotta shoot free throws better. We gotta take care of the ball,” Brown said. “For some reason, I don’t think we played well in certain spots. We just need to get in the gym.”

The Wildcats struggled after key player Jersiah Higgins fouled out in the second half. Lavarious Green led the Wildcats in points with nine and six rebounds, while Duan McRoberts recorded seven points.

“Our leading scorer, Jersiah, he just kept getting kind of screwed and he was in foul trouble all night,” Brown said. “This is tough. I just think they need to take time and decompress.”

With a short break to regroup before they start up play again, Brown is hoping to see growth.

“I hope at some point in the future we play better because we’re in a rut right now. As soon as we get to practice, just change the whole tone about the game. We’ll work on it. We’ll work on it for sure, and we’re going to get better. I guarantee that,” Brown said.

Wright City will play next in the Clopton Invitational from Jan. 6-11.

Warrenton will travel to Kansas City to take on Kearney on Dec. 27 and Lee’s Summit West on Dec. 28.

“We’re going to have a good challenge. Maybe we can get one, but at least we’ll see great competition and hopefully it will set us up for conference play,” Thomas said