By Kory Carpenter

Record Sports Editor

The Wright City boys basketball team tried a little of everything in its 51-10 loss to Bowling Green Thursday.

Without one of their starters, the Wildcats were undermanned against a Bowling Green club that is expected to win the Eastern Missouri Conference this season.

“We didn’t have a good offensive night,” Head Coach Ken Brown said. “And a lot of that had to do with not having our point guard.”

Point guard Devon Holmes was suspended by Brown for one game after being called for a technical in the Dec. 10 win over Missouri Military Academy.

Sean McDonald replaced Holmes in the starting lineup, and finished with two points.

“It won’t show up in the stats, but defensively, he played great,” Brown said. “He was all over the place and had a couple of steals and rebounds. He just played well overall.”

Starting guards Trey Saddler and Tyrel Curtis combined for eight points to round out the Wright City scoring.

“We’re not very deep at the guard spot, so when one of our guards goes down, it really screws up our rotation,” Brown said, adding that Holmes’ absence created a domino effect among the rest of the rotation.

The Wildcats trailed 12-1 after one quarter, 26-1 at halftime and 45-8 heading into the fourth.

Players were forced out of their regular roles, and the offense struggled as a result.

The Wildcats were able to beat the Bowling Green press, and Brown was pleased with his team’s defense, as well.

“It was just one of those things where we couldn’t put the ball in the basket,” he said.

Brown hopes to get consistent scoring out his forwards, Kyle Christopher and Dakota Phillips, who failed to score against Bowling Green.

That, he said, will keep pressure off his guards and open the offense up in the second half of the season.

“It’s almost there,” he said. “We took a big step back against Bowling Green, but I think we can be good if we play together.”

Wright City dropped to 1-6 with the loss, and will be off until it heads to the Clopton Tournament Jan. 4-9.

“We started to put things together against MMA (Missouri Military Academy),” Brown said. “We just need more time, and I think we’ll get that with six more practices before our next game. I think we’ll get our feet back under us.”