The Tri-Cities basketball team finally appears to be healthy for the first time. That’s just another reason to expect the always-tough Bulldogs to be in the mix for the state championship.
Tri-Cities lost eight seniors from last season’s team that went 23-5 and lost to Eagle’s Landing 81-69 in the championship game. The No. 4-ranked Bulldogs are 13-5 overall, 9-2 in Region 3 and can win the league title with victories in their final two games against Drew and Banneker. The region champion receives an automatic bye to the region tournament, which will be hosted by Tri-Cities.
The new nature of this year’s team caused coach Omari Forts to focus more on fundamentals than in previous season, but all that work has come to fruition. The Bulldogs again appear to have the stuff needed to make a lenghty postseason run.
“It’s been an extremely enjoyable season,” Forts said. “The biggest thing has been to get back to teaching a lot of details and nuances about our system that’s allowed us to play at a high level. It’s taken a lot of time to get that foundation back into place and we’re finally starting to turn the corner.”
The keystones to the success have been guards Simeon Cottle, a 6-foot-1 senior who has signed with Kennesaw State, and Kory Mincy, a 6-foot junior.
“Every game we go into, I feel like we have the advantage or are at least equal at the No. 1 and No. 2,” Forts said. “We are going to be competitive in every game because of those two. … They’ve done a great job shouldering the load and navigating around some of the pitfalls of the season.”
Cottle averages a Class 5A-leading 24.1 points, 4.8 rebounds, 4.3 assists and 2.8 steals per game. He has been playing varsity basketball since the ninth grade and has started for three seasons. He is a point guard but can play all over the floor and Forts said, “He knows what it’s like to play against tough competition.
Mincy averages 17.9 points, 3.8 rebounds, 3.8 assists and 2.9 steals. He has already scored 1,000 career points, but his real strength may be on defense. Forts said, “He’s the best on-ball defender I’ve ever seen.”
The other starters are 6-1 junior Noricco Danner, who averages 12.4 points and 4.5 rebounds, Kyndon Wilburg, a 5-10 junior who averages 10.8 points and 6.3 rebounds, and Ryan Mathieu, a 6-9 senior who averages 8.1 rebounds and 1.3 blocks.
The late addition is guard Eric Smarr, a 6-foot-1, 205-pound guard who transferred in from Newnan but was injured during football season and just recently returned. Smarr averaged 8.9 points and 4.6 rebounds in helping Newnan go 19-9 a year ago.
“He’s battle-tested,” Forts said. “He was critical to their making a deep run last year. People look at him and think he’s a post player because of his size, but he’s really a point guard. That allows us to play him all over the floor.”
Tri-Cities has been tested by a trying schedule. The losses have come against Class 4A No. 1 McDonough, Dr. Phillips of Orlando, Fla., Class 7A Etowah and region opponents Jonesboro and Woodward Academy.
Tri-Cities lost the first meeting with Jonesboro 79-76, but won the rematch 79-60 upon Smarr’s return. The Bulldogs lost to Woodward Academy 64-62 after beating the War Eagles 68-42 in the first meeting.
