Published: November 19, 2008 09:32 pm            

Pressure packed

Murray defense pivotal

Murray County has so many seniors on it this season, you might do a double-take when looking at the boys roster.

Of the Indians 14 players, 10 are entering the final season of their prep career, and three will be in the starting lineup.

Coach Greg Linder has never had so many seniors on one team.

“It’s definitely a little more than usual,” said Linder, who said the previous high was seven. “It’s a great class. They all bring something to the table. Most of them have been playing together since rec ball.”

Linder’s first season coaching the Indians was 2005-06, when this year’s seniors were freshmen. The Indians finished 24-5 and captured their first region title in 12 years as members of 7-4A that season.

But the Indians spent the past two seasons in in Region 5-5A, where they finished a combined 19-29, including a 9-16 finish last season with a 5-8 region record.

Now back in the realigned Region 7-4A, Linder hopes these seniors can come full circle and win another region title.

The quest begins Friday when Lakeview-Fort Oglethorpe comes to Chatsworth in a non-region game.

“These players were very successful as freshmen,” Linder said of his seniors. “Any time you’ve got this many guys returning, you have high expectations.

“We want to contend for the region title and make the state tournament, but our first goal is to make the state tournament regardless of the region tournament since the top four (in the region go to state). Secondly, we want to win the region title. With this kind of experience, we can meet those goals.”

In an effort to achieve those goals, the Indians will once again play pressure defense, with an emphasis on the full-court press, although Linder is comfortable with the team’s half-court defense as well.

“We’ve had great success (in the past) with our matchups in the half-court game, so hopefully that can spark the transition game,” Linder said.

The overall idea is to create offense through defense, and with strong guard play the Indians’ hope to run the floor to create easy baskets.

Despite the senior-laden squad, there are still some holes to fill. The Indians lost point guard Josh Hensley — whom Linder said was their best defender — and Will Powell, their leading scorer and second-leading rebounder.

But Linder is confident senior John Kiser is ready to step into the role of starting point guard and senior Chandler Puryear — the team’s leading rebounder last season — is ready for an increased role as well. And Linder likes what he’s seen from his 6-foot-6 senior forward/center Tanner Long.

“Tanner has really stepped it up in the last year,” Linder said. “He’ll be the focal point of the post offense.”

And Linder believes this year’s schedule, while demanding, won’t be as brutal as what the Indians faced the past two seasons in terms of travel.

“We got lucky in regards to the teams from the south coming up to us this year,” he said. “But locally, the games against Northwest and Dalton that count toward our region schedule are on the road, and any time you play a region game on the road, it’s extremely tough. But when I look at the rest of the schedule, the rest of our road trips are spread out over the weekend and that’s a pretty good situation.”

Though the Indians have high expectations, Kiser and his teammates realize the team’s limitations.

“We’re not the most athletic team,” Kiser said.“But we’re hard-working and we make up for that with effort and defense. We’ll try to outplay (our opponents) and lean on our leadership.”

Puryear said it’s important the Indians get off to a fast start.

“That would give us the momentum we need,” Puryear said. “That’s important because we can carry that into the Christmas tournament and then into the region schedule where the games really start to count.”

2008-09 Schedule

November

21 — Lakeview-Fort Oglethorpe, 8:30; 25 — vs. Ringgold at Ridgeland Tournament, 7; 26 — vs. Heritage at Ridgeland tournament, 4; 29 — vs. Ridgeland at Ridgeland tournament, 7.

December

9 — Woodland, 7:30; 12 — Sequoyah, 8:30; 13 — at Dalton, 4:30; 19-22 — at Carpet Capital Classic at Trade Center.

January

3 — at LFO, 5:30; 6 — Northwest Whitfield, 7:30; 9 — at Rome, 8:30; 10 — vs. Dalton, 4:30; 13 — Osborne, 7:30; 16 — at Allatoona, 8:30; 17 — Hillgrove, 5:30; 20 — at Northwest, 7:30; 23 — South Paulding; 27 — Paulding County, 7:30; 30 — at Hiram, 7:30.

February

6 — at Cass, 8:30; 7 — at Sprayberry, 5:30; 10 — North Paulding, 7:30; 14-21 — Region Tournament at Woodland.

        

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