Coach Ken Brown is extremely eager for his team to get back into the gym, whether it be for a game or at least practice.He is anxious to work on areas his team is struggling with, but weather has prevented the Wildcats from meeting since a 68-34 loss at Bowling Green on Friday. It was their only game in the past 19 days.“We need to get in the gym and work on our offense, but we haven’t been able to make that happen recently,” said Brown.He says Wright City’s offense lacked efficiency during the Eastern Missouri Conference loss.But it was considerably better in the first half than in the second. The Wildcats made enough shots to keep Bowling Green from controlling the tempo and managed to get back in transition and stop the fast break.“We ran our offense a lot better and were making shots,” said Brown. “We got to the free-throw line a lot more, which slowed them down.”Bowling Green jumped out to a 20-11 lead after one quarter, but the Wildcats edged their host in the scoring department during the second period.Despite trailing 30-22 at halftime, the Wildcats allowed Bowling Green to impose its will during the final two quarters.“We came out and didn’t have any energy in the second half,” said Brown. “We kind of rolled over.”With missed shots on Wright City’s end came offensive opportunities for the Bobcats.“What fuels their transition even more is missed shots,” said Brown. “We were efficient offensively, which allowed them to run transition.Ty Davis led the Wildcats with 12 points, finally getting what Brown calls a reasonable amount of shots.“He’s single-handedly keeping us in ballgames,” said Brown. “We need him to get around 14-15 shots every game and make sure he gets going offensively.”Wright City was without its tallest player, senior center Justin Wade, who was battling the flu. While the Wildcats do boast depth in the paint, Brown says not having Wade hinders them defensively.“He imposes a presence where offensive players can’t roam into the lane to make layups,” said Brown.The Wildcats did receive a solid inside performance from Christian Thompson, who dropped 10 points and collected six rebounds.Brown says the Wildcats will put the Bowling Green loss behind them and be grateful for having played a game recently with a busy slate awaiting.“We have to keep feeding him the ball,” added Brown.Wright City drew the fifth seed and was set to open against the fourth-seeded host on Wednesday night at the Clopton Tournament. Brown feels his team has a chance to collect some wins during a four-day span that could feature three games if the Wildcats are successful.“We have an opportunity to make some noise in the tournament,” said Brown. “But we’ve got to focus on that first game, because we don’t want to end up on the consolation side right away.”

Wright City junior Ty Davis has become a consistent scoring threat for the Wildcats this season.

Derrick Forsythe Photo.