By Jay Bhati ’21, Contributor

With the fall season slowly coming to a close, for some seniors, they are playing in the last games of their 4-year careers. For others, it is just the start. Trey Smith, one senior not playing a fall sports is ready to get into basketball. A 4-year varsity athlete, accompanied by senior captain Blake Adkins, are heading full steam into the season starting off with a 2-0 record. Both dominated varsity last year, both are ready to lead the team to new heights this year. A goal they have already began to achieve. The start being against Seven Hills. Seven Hills is a big time rival and CCDS won the matchup 61 to 48, by establishing an early lead and never letting Seven Hills get ahead. It was a great game as both schools had a great student section to accompany a good varsity showdown. Smith and Adkins have dominated against anyone standing in their paths. Both have scored over 20 points consecutively propelling CCDS to dominating wins. Arys Anderson ’18, has been quite the surprise coming into the season, turning out to be quite the three-point machine. Making more than 60% of his three point attempts, Anderson is an incredible varsity player. A starter, who as a senior, leads the team off and on the court.

Once winter break concludes, CCDS will start to get into the bulk of their conference matchups. With Summit losing a great deal of seniors, the MVC is open for the taking. CCDS has the strength of their senior captains along with an up and coming junior class consisting of stand outs Colin Sam, Ethan Jefferies, and Kylan Young, all of whom are making a great deal of impact in the start of their promising varsity careers. Coming into the season, CCDS was skeptical of their big man position, since Myles Jackson ’17 had graduated and Jack Gardner, ’18, was coming into the season with little experience at the varsity level, having shared playing time last year with Jackson. With the help of Coach Tony Waite, Gardner has more than impressed, going up against harsh competition, but not backing down. Gardner stands over 6 feet tall and puts an emphasis on the term “Big Man”.  Gardner, along with Smith, have been unstoppable in the paint.  

Head coach Greg Ross threw very abnormal formations that fit to how the team is structured. Built for speed, the team is able to outrun and outscore opponents easily. With the addition of speed, Ross and Waite have pinpointed their strengths to be: smart offensive play, lock down defense, and running the court. Each of which has been executed on all cylinders during game time. Coach Waite is to credit for the team being able to outrun their opponents. Matthew Adkins, a sophomore varsity starter, says that, “Even though it’s a lot of running, its worth it when your able to flat-out outrun the other team in the 4^th quarter when the game is on the line because you’re better conditioned than they are. Transition offense leading to easy buckets is a big part of how we get out on front early, and how we are able to close games late.”

Varsity basketball is looking very nice heading into the season, and the team is very good, but so is the student section. The student section has been able to bring an “X” factor into varsity playing at home. The student section has had great turnouts and as the month of January comes, the team will go into the thick of their season, playing the majority of their rivalry conference games at home on Fridays, so come out and support!